The “circuit” below was crowned the “funniest schematics” on the Internet if you did a Google search (of course it came from xkcd). Humor in engineering normally comes with sarcasm, self-deprecation, and our shared sufferings. Take a look at the diagram below, and you will find at least one thing you can relate to (my personal favorite is the cloverleaf interchange because you know how I feel about solder dots). The comedy here is delivered through (wait for it…) SYMBOLS! So in this post, let’s talk about how we can have some fun with our symbols and notes.

Circuit Diagram [credit: explain xkcd]

The funny engineers

Let’s get this out of the way first. I think IC design is fun not only because of the satisfactions that come with the end products, but also the people in this field. I have met so many IC design mentors and uncles with a great sense of humor. Case in point, you don’t often see a panelist dressed up as a hamster at a world renowned circuit conference discussing the tape-out treadmill (I strongly recommend reading Chris Mangelsdorf’s “Shop Talk” series on Solid States Circuits Magazine). Want another example? Here is literally a former VLSI engineer turned comedian, Don McMillan. However, when it’s time to design some serious circuits, somehow we put our personalities and humor away. It doesn’t have to be this way, so continue reading.

Life wisdom in circuits

You might recognize some of these from T-shirts, but I think they must go into somebody’s real schematics at some point. Here are some of my favorite quotes or life wisdom explained in circuits

1. The answer to Shakespeare

Ever need a “tie high” cell? Shakespeare can rest easy knowing we have the answer.

2. Both you and your comparator need some encouragements

Add this note next to your comparator before your design review

3. The pain with TIA

Oops, applied a voltage to a TIA….

4. Can’t resist last minute design changes

Resistance is futile

5. The key to my happy marriage/life

Perfect for your ESD schematics

Hilarious annotations

Programmers have long figured out how to use comments to describe their pains in plain English (examples in case you are curious). Let’s face it, we all need some extra motivations each day to keep tweaking that design or run some simulations. Maybe writing or reading some funny notes on schematics will provide exactly that. Inspired by our programmer friends, here are somethings you can try putting on your symbols/schematics next time

  • “Descend into this symbol at your own risk.”
  • “When I started this design, only God and I understood what I was doing. Now only God knows”
  • “To my future self: you were an idiot for building this circuit”
  • “The Current is strong with this one”
  • “I want to dedicate this circuit to my children, without whom I would have finished much earlier”
  • “WARNING: if you change this sacred sizing, the circuit will explode”
  • “I read in Circuits for Dummies that I need these dummies for circuits”
  • “In my designs, I don’t take shortcuts; I bypass”
  • “Before this thing becomes a comparator, it was a random bit generator”
  • What other quirky inside jokes can you put on your schematics? The floor is yours…

Let your imagination fly

I cringe whenever a dull symbol shows up in the schematics. “This one needs some identity”, I say to myself. That’s when I try to let my imagination fly create a symbol I can be equally as proud of as my circuits. Somewhere in a library might still live a symbol that looks similar to this

Can you guess what this symbol is for? Maybe to some of your surprise, I lived through the tail of the floppy disk age. I immediately jumped on the chance to draw it on a (you guessed it!) register map cell. After the cell was checked in, I had delightful conversations with my manager and several other designers just about this little floppy disk. I feast on the interesting stories people share when their memories of the “good old days” are triggered by a little picture like this. I enjoy these moments greatly – listening and learning from those who came before me, and feeling glad that I can make us all laugh a bit during work.

There are other times when you can let your creativity loose. Have you ever wondered why some of the most widely used circuit blocks don’t really have a universal symbol (PLL I am looking at you)? I have been working on a symbol for PLLs in the back of my head, and here it is. Drum roll please…

Please go ahead, use it for your PLL 🙂

You’ve seen it here first. I will wait for the applause to end.

In all seriousness

I hope this short post has made you chuckle a bit after a busy week of staring at layouts and simulation results. In all seriousness though, the bigger point is that we should all be more free when drawing schematics. How one draws schematics is just another aspect on his/her resume, but it doesn’t have to be strictly “professional”. To be honest, I need the small whimsical touches in my circuits for a little extra motivation during the grind. I try to express myself through my schematics – I want them to be neat, well-documented, aesthetically pleasing and sometimes funny, without compromising the design quality itself.

Behind each circuit and symbol, there might be a intriguing story to be told. With each story, we learn, develop and grow. Perhaps someday a fresh grad can go into a database, look at my schematics and go, “Wow, this Kevin guy must have had a lot of fun when he was here”. With a few simple shapes and notes, it would add a whole lot of personalities to your designs. It can even strengthen your bonds with the team – grab a coffee, talk about your schematics and share a laugh .

There is a child in all of us, and we have the perfect canvas to express ourselves. This is precisely the reason why I chose this feature image at the very top for this post. With that said, have you seen or drawn any fun schematics yourself? Please share your stories!