I wanted to learn how to use KiCad, a pcb design software. I'm an ECE major so it's always been interesting to me, but I never had the time to learn it on my own. This project gave me the motivation to finally try it out. 

Process and reflection: 

The learning curve for KiCad is pretty steep, but not as bad as I was expecting. I initially followed a 9 part Youtube video series that went over how to design an PCB step by step, so I was prepared when designing my own PCB. I started off with the schematic design, which was relatively simple. I kept getting a strange error when I ran the electrical rules checker (ERC), which turned out to be the fact that KiCad didn't like the normal "GND" label and wanted an additional "PWR_FLAG" symbol. Next I went into the footprint editor and assigned all the footprints, which are the physical representations of the components that would go on the PCB. This part was a little confusing, especially when trying to pick a potentiometer. There were so many random ones that looked nothing like the normal 3 pin potentiometer we've used, so I ended up just spending 5 minutes clicking different ones at random and looking at their footprint to see if it was what I wanted. Finally, I went into the PCB editor where I could place components in the layout I wanted and connect all the wires together. This part is the most interesting, and it was fun trying to make the wires look as neat as possible. Overall, I'm really happy with how my PCB turned out, and I got to learn a really useful skill I think will be really helpful for me to have going forward.