1.6 Sketching Out Your Ideas

When inspiration strikes, nothing beats old-fashioned pencil and paper to quickly draw out your ideas. For those who prefer to brainstorm their designs on a computer, several free, open source, cross-platform tools have helped me assemble my ideas and document my work:

• Freemind is great for organizing thoughts, objectives, and dependencies.[4] This mature mind-mapping application helps you make sense of a brain dump of ideas and see the links between them. This will save you time and money because you will be able to spot key ideas, eliminate redundancies, and prioritize what you want to accomplish.

• Fritzing is a diagraming application specifically designed for documenting Arduino-centric wiring.[5] Unfortunately, it’s still a work in progress and is rough around the edges. It also doesn’t have a number of the popular sensors iconically represented yet, but the object library is growing as more people contribute to the project. I use this application exclusively for documenting my Arduino-based projects, which is why the wiring diagrams in this book were generated by Fritzing.

• Inkscape is an easy-to-use vector-based drawing program that helps sketch out ideas beyond the Arduino-centricity of Fritzing.[6] While Inkscape is mainly intended for graphic artists, it has accurate measurement tools that are great for scoping out bracket and enclosure ideas for your projects.

Going beyond the desktop, tablets are rapidly taking over the role that were once the domain of traditional paper uses. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if you’re reading this book on an iPad or a Kindle right now. Beyond just reference lookups, tablets are excellent for brainstorming ideas and creating initial sketches of preliminary project designs. An iPad (or Android tablet, for that matter) combined with a sturdy stand also makes for a handy electronic reference. Load up your sketches, track your progress, reorder priorities, and make notes along the way.

My current favorite iPad apps for my projects include the following:

• Elektor Electronic Toolbox is an electronic parts reference with a variety of helpful calculators and conversion tools.[7]

• iCircuit is a electronic circuit simulator that makes building and understanding circuits far easier than static diagrams on a printed page.[8]

• iThoughts HD is a mind-mapping application compatible with importing and exporting Freemind files.[9]

• miniDraw is a vector-based drawing program that can export to SVG format, perfect for importing your sketches into Inkscape.[10]

In addition to designing and documenting your projects, well-executed projects also rely on taking accurate measurements and running tests to validate your work.