What are Design Ideas?

Design Ideas are short, compact articles (about three to six paragraphs on average) that help you solve problems or show you innovative ways to accomplish design tasks. We usually run five to seven ideas per issue in each of our 24 issues/year. The topic is up to you. We review articles that fall into virtually any technology area: analog or digital circuits, programmable logic, hardware-design languages, systems, programming tips, useful utilities, test techniques, and so on. The idea should be useful or innovative or tricky.

A Design Idea is not necessarily a complete engineering package. You don't have to submit a design for your complete system—just the idea that is the heart of your system.

To learn what makes a good Design Idea, please spend some time browsing our archive of Design Ideas.

How do I submit a Design Idea?

It's easy. You have a couple of options. Send a hard copy of your idea and legible copies of all accompanying artwork to EDN Design Ideas, 225 Wyman St, Waltham, MA 02451. Or you can e-mail a version of your idea and graphics in .tif, .gif, or jpeg format, to edndesignideas@reedbusiness.com. Design Ideas must be your original work, and you must not have published them elsewhere.

Can I send in hand-drawn schematics?

Sure. Our art department will often redraw the Design Ideas schematics anyway to conform to our selected style. Just make sure the drawing is legible and complete. Include pin numbers of the ICs for the convenience of readers who build the circuit. Label components designations (R2, C3, IC1) if they are mentioned in the text of the article. Make sure you include component values, ratings, and tolerances, and if you have an unusual component in your design, tell us the manufacturer, source, materials, etc. For instance, if your design involves a home-made inductor, we'll need to know the core material, wire gauge, and the number of turns. For program listings, send us a disk or an e-mail file and a printed copy.

Can I put hyperlinks to related content in my Design Idea?

Absolutely! Links to software downloads, related articles, additional technical information, white papers, and any related topic are strongly encouraged. Readers find them very helpful.

Do you review proposals, outlines, or drafts of Design Ideas?

Not for this section of the magazine. We do review, and encourage, outlines for the contributed-feature section. Click here see our Writer's guide for technical articles. You can also click here for a guided tour of all our sections and departments.

How long does it take to find out if my Design Idea is accepted?

We want to give each Design Idea a fair shake, so we have established internal and external panels of experts in all technical fields to evaluate the articles. The process can be as short as three weeks to as long as seven.

Do I get paid for a Design Idea?

You bet. You won't get rich, but your idea will be read by hundreds of thousands of your colleagues around the world. If we accept your Design Idea, we pay $150.

Can I send my idea to more than one magazine at a time?

Don't do it. Most professional publications will reject an article outright if it has been sent to multiple magazines. Send your article to only one magazine at a time. If Magazine #1 declines to publish your article, then you're free to try Magazine #2. Don't give up—if you have a neat idea, it will get noticed.

What about testing the designs? Do you do it?

We cannot emphasize testing enough, but we don't have the time or facilities to do it. It's imperative that you wring out and test your design yourself! If your design is a power supply, for example, make sure it can withstand temperature extremes, input overvoltages, and output short circuits.

Include some measured performance data in the text or table. Make sure there won't be a problem if any critical component fails. Test, test, test!

Tips and requirements:

• Design entered must be submitted exclusively to EDN. Design must be original with author(s), must not have been previously patented or published (limited-distribution house publications excepted), and must have been constructed and tested.
• Fully annotate all circuit diagrams with components' part numbers and electrical values.
• Keep it short.
• Please do not fax your idea. Use regular mail or e-mail.
• If using mail, print diagrams, charts, graphs, and listings on separate sheets. Handwritten schematics are fine as long as the material is legible. It's a good idea to send us material (especially listings) on a PC disk along with the printouts.
• Don't worry about style or grammar, but make sure we can figure out why your Design Idea is clever, how it works, and which applications it suits.
• Learn how to write a Design Idea by reading several back issues of EDN.
• Send questions and completed Design Ideas to edndesignideas@reedbusiness.com.