Starting PCB Design With KiCad
The best way I found to start PCB design was to lower the ambition of the first board until the process became survivable.
Draft translated from an Org note. This draft keeps the beginner perspective instead of pretending the process was smooth.
KiCad worked for that first step because it is open source, widely used, and good enough to carry a beginner from schematic to board files on an ordinary laptop.
Choosing the first project
The critical decision was not the software. It was scope. Instead of choosing something impressive, I narrowed the first board down to a tiny keypad whose only purpose was to replace page-up and page-down.
Where the real difficulty began
Designing the board was only half the learning curve. Manufacturing introduced a second vocabulary:
- exporting Gerbers correctly
- understanding fabrication site requirements
- checking enough details that the order felt safe
I used JLCPCB for fabrication, and a lot of the process was learned by searching for the right export and upload workflow.
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