Editorial GuidelinesDesign Solutions | Ideas for Design | Point of View | Media Kit Home Design Solutions About Design Solutions:
Design Solutions are contributed articles that provide timely design guidance for our readers. The article should be a detailed and timely discussion of how to accomplish a specific design task. If the article is about designing a particular circuit, include as much practical design information as possible. Cover the design philosophy, design tradeoffs, and circuit analysis. Include formulas and other guidance for determining specific values of components for a typical application.
Design Solutions about a specific device or family of devices should focus on how to design with the parts, not how the parts were designed. In other words, the article should be a "pins out" discussion, not "pins in."
In Print And On The Web:
Typically, we publish a summary (Design View) in print and the full-length Design Solution on our Web site. A Design View is a one-page high-level overview of the entire article that is prepared by the editorial staff. We pay an honorarium of $200 for each Design Solution, no matter its length.
Text Format:
Use Word to create the text file and attach the .doc file to an e-mail. The article should be no longer than the equivalent of four to five magazine pages. That translates to about 2200 to 2500 words, with four or five art elements (figures, tables, sidebars). Don't forget to include a descriptive caption that makes a point for each figure; captions should not be just labels.
Art Format:
Art should also be submitted electronically. We prefer .tif or .jpg files and require 300-dpi resolution if the art is to be reproduced directly from the file. Line drawings are generally redrawn by our artists to conform to our style. Other graphic formats, like .bmp and .gif, are also acceptable. If necessary, we can work with PowerPoint, but it does not reproduce well in the magazine. We can accept figures as .doc files, either embedded in the Word text file or as separate .doc files.
Remember to include figure references in the text exactly where you want the readers to go to the figure.
The most important art requirement is that the figure resolution must be 300 dpi if it is to be reproduced directly.
We strongly recommend that potential contributors read previous Design Solutions prior to submitting an article to get an idea of how these articles are written. Design Solutions can be found on the Web at http://www.elecdesign.com/Departments/DepartmentID/29/29.html.
Don't Forget:
• The author's full name
• The company's full name, street address, and Web address
• Author contact information—e-mail address, telephone
• Author's bio information—job title, company department, college degree(s), college(s) noting city and state, any special honors and awards.
Or send by postal mail to:
Design Solutions
ELECTRONIC DESIGN
249 W. 17th St., 4th Floor
New York, NY 10011
Or transmit by fax to:
913-514-7214
Have more questions? Contact:
Roger Engelke at 212 204-4380, rengelke@penton.com
Electronic Design looks forward to receiving your Design Solution article submission.
Ideas for Design
The Ideas for Design section (formerly Design Briefs) is intended to offer readers concise descriptions of practical, working circuits that solve a particular problem. It is one of the best-read sections of Electronic Design.
Ideas for Design are tightly focused on the problem and the proposed solution, offering little background information. In a way, the circuits speak for themselves. Because the ideas are so tightly focused, we do not require them to have broad applicability. Although we expect readers to apply one circuit's principles to other applications, we do not necessarily give them advice on how to do that.
To enhance the reader's interest, the best Ideas for Design concisely describe the real-world application involved, the weaknesses of the "standard" approach, and the benefits derived by using the suggested circuit or idea. The circuit should demonstrate some novel approach or creativity by the author; it cannot be trivial, or a rehash of a commonly known circuit with just minor changes. However, we do not set super-tight requirements for creativity that rule out all but the most ingenious ideas.
More and more, circuits contain ICs as their key elements. To be accepted as a Idea for Design, the circuit should contain design creativity beyond the bounds of the IC. The IC's surrounding circuitry should not simply consist of the support components needed to get the IC up and running.
We do not expect an expert writing style. All items are edited, some heavily, before publication. However, we must be able to understand what the author is trying to say.
We have practical limits on article length. In general, an Idea for Design consists of text ranging between 400 and 700 words, along with one large circuit diagram or two smaller illustrations. In terms of a magazine page, the circuit diagram should not exceed one-half page and preferably should be smaller. The submission should include a 300-dpi "head shot" photograph of the author.
In general, the reasons for probable outright rejection of a submission include:
• It involves patented or copyrighted material and would not be available for use by our readers without licensing.
• It is trivial—the circuit consists of just a few components and any engineer would routinely come up with the same solution.
• The author's writing is difficult, or impossible, to understand.
• It's a copy of a previous circuit design, with only minor modifications.
• A commercially available IC is the key element and the surrounding circuitry simply supports its "typical" operation.
• It is simply too big for publication (see the guidelines, above). Ideas for Design involving long program listings are the exception. We usually accommodate those listings by posting them to our website. In general, this works well if short "excerpts" of the code listing are also provided to include in the printed version.
• It is overkill—too much circuitry for too simple a problem.
We strongly recommend that potential contributors read previous Ideas For Design prior to submitting an article to get an idea of how these articles are written. Ideas For Design can be found on the Web at http://www.elecdesign.com/Departments/DepartmentID/2/2.html.
For e-mail and disk-based submissions, the following are the acceptable formats in order of preference:
FOR TEXT AND PROGRAM LISTINGS:
doc (Word), .txt, (or any Word-importable file type), otherwise send high-quality hard copy
FOR GRAPHICS/PHOTOS/SCREEN SHOTS (300 dpi or higher):
jpg, .tif, .eps, .bmp (PowerPoint files cannot be handled directly)
To submit your IDEA FOR DESIGN:
If you submit your Idea for Design by mail or fax, it is highly recommended that you follow-up your submission with an electronic version sent via e-mail.
By Mail:
Roger Engelke
Ideas for Design Editor
ELECTRONIC DESIGN
45 Eisenhower Drive, 5th Floor
Paramus, NJ 07652
If you submit your idea by e-mail, it is recommended that you follow-up your submission with a hardcopy version, particularly of non-text content, by mail or fax.
Have more questions? Contact:
Roger Engelke at 201-845-2465, rengelke@penton.com
Electronic Design looks forward to receiving your Idea for Design article submission.
Point of View
Electronic Design is proud to publish columns from industry experts on issues relevant to design engineers in our Point of View department, and we are happy to consider your submissions. While columns can take sides on an issue, even be controversial, they must be vendor-neutral. That means they can not promote the author's particlar products or services.
We have two forums for Point of View columns. The POV department runs in print, while the Industry Viewpoint runs as part of our ED Update weekly e-mail newsletter. Columns are considered for both forums, and they are chosen for one or the other based on topic and scheduling. It is not necessary to specifically target one forum or the other in your submission.
Columns run about 650-750 words. They can be submitted in Microsoft Word format. It is not necessary to include any artwork with the column, as our art department will develop a thematic image to accompany the piece. The column should include a brief, two- or three-sentence bio of the author as well as the author's company, title, and e-mail address. We also require a high-resolution jpg or tif color headshot of the autor.
All submissions should be exclusive to Electronic Design. We do not accept material that has appeared or is scheduled to appear elsewhere, either in print or online.
Columns may be sent to Managing Editor Richard Gawel at rgawel@penton.com. Please allow up to six weeks for our response.
