I would add fiducials, it will give you more flexibility for choosing who to use for assembly. Some assembly houses might not need them, but some do. At my old job we had a pick and place machine and the software did use fiducials to orient and align the boards.

 

...add some cool image you like as skills screen, I usually an add Iron man helmet like this one.

I do this also. This is what I place on my boards (it is ¾" by ¾"):



It looks pretty cool on the PCB.

 

I place this line of text somewhere on the top copper layer. I’m beginning to overlay it with the same text on the silkscreen. Preferably located in a corner or centered on the bottom edge. Either way, it’s just above any connections. The same location on the top edge has been done, but that location is not preferred.

dj’s fantasi​

 

I always make pin 1 of any connector a square or rectangle, depending on if the other pins are circles or ovals. This makes it much easier to orient yourself when probing the bottom side of the board where you cannot see the legend. Also, I try to have a pin 1 identifier in the silkscreen legend, usually a small triangle.

If the poured ground planes are not critical to the operation of the board (controlled impedance, runs, striplines, etc.), then I would not worry about it not filling in completely around pin pads. Very small pads make the board much more fragile during rework.

The bare pc board part number is a piece of company-internal information; I put it in copper on the bottom layer. I put the assembly number, which a customer will need to order a replacement, in the legend on the top side.

ak

 

Don't be discouraged by all the "professional" advice you are receiving.
A lot depends on the actual application of your circuit board. Many of the comments provided so far were made by professionals who have been there and done that. These become important if you are designing boards for applications such as:

• high frequency
• low noise
• mixed signal, analog and digital

In much less demanding applications you may be able to ignore the comments on power and ground planes.

All in all, you need to put your PCB layout and application in the proper perspective.

 

At the end of the day, just make something. Good or bad, you're only going to learn by doing. You may screw something up, and then you get to learn how to rework. I don't remember who said it first, but one of my favorite quotes is "all good decisions come from experience, and all experience comes from bad decisions."

 

At the end of the day, just make something. Good or bad, you're only going to learn by doing. You may screw something up, and then you get to learn how to rework. I don't remember who said it first, but one of my favorite quotes is "all good decisions come from experience, and all experience comes from bad decisions."

It seems to be most attributed to Mark Twain. My memory is that a tech entrepreneur said it.

 

Yes...but if you start with good habits....

"As the branch is bent, the tree will grow"

Or...something like that anyway....

 

Yeah, if you're very lucky, you can make your good decisions based on the experience someone else gained from their bad decisions.

 

The ideal PCB design starts with the discovery that a PCB is needed and continues through the final production boards. After determining why the PCB is needed, the product’s final concept should be decided. The concept includes the design’s features, the functions the PCB must have and perform, interconnection with other circuits, placement, and the approximate final dimensions.
Having effectively used capture to build a design, and simulation to validate its performance, it is time to build a physical prototype to test the real-world performance of the design in the format in which it will be eventually used. The layout is generally done in a CAD environment in which the symbols that represented the design in the capture are now seen in the format of the actual component physical dimensions. Therefore as a best practice, it is necessary to leverage manual tools to ensure that this part of the design is effectively completed. Automated tools can be used to connect together the less critical parts of the design.