Standards & Philosophy - Part 2

Hi everyone!

We are talking about the philosophy behind standardization, specifically relating to CAD standards. 

In the last posting I identified the three big questions that have to be considered for each item in a CAD standard.

1. What SHOULD it look like?
2. Does item in the standard increase the overall value of the CAD design?
3. How do you minimize the enforcement aspect of the standard?

In this posting we are going to talk a little about the actual graphic portion of the standard.

What should it look like?

When considering the graphics of a standard I think that there is a hierarchy of importance that has to be considered.

The most important is accuracy.  If the information shown in the drawing is wrong what good is it? 

This might seem like a strange item to put at the to of the "What should it look like?" list.  However, I think that we can all agree that you would never try to build anything from an impressionist painting where the geometry and details are distorted. 

Despite any personal feelings about this particular artistic style many find it very visually appealing and interesting.  But, could you ever determine what the original subject of the painting actually looked like with a high degree of accuracy?

Next is readability.  If a drawing is not readable then it is of absolutely no use to anyone.

Why then would I want to send out a drawings where the font is so small you can't read the notes or dimensions.

Or perhaps the drawing is so cluttered with lines and notes that the details are lost because every line on the page has the same color and thickness.

Last is visual appeal.  I am not placing it last because is is not important.  Quite the contrary.  I think that visual appeal is important for many reasons. 

• Marketing to a potential client by showing them a previous project is much better when the drawings look good and you both know it.
• Things that are visually appealing tend to be more memorable, and increase retention of information.
• It conveys pride of ownership and attention to detail.

The only reason that this one comes in at the bottom of the list is because the other two items are directly related to the function of the drawing.  That function is to convey the information necessary to accomplish something.

If a drawing set is the most appealing and beautiful work of art, but is inaccurate or unreadable then it is really just wasted time and money.  In the long run, the person who actually has to meet the requirements of the design will have no clue what they are supposed to do.