Draughtsman

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For the board game piece, see Draughts.

A draughtsman or draftsman (the former more often in the UK, the latter more often in the US), also known as a draughtsperson or draftsperson is a person skilled in drawing, either:

• drawing for artistic purposes, or
• technical drawing for practical purposes such as architecture or engineering. Many modern draughtsmen use computer aided design (CAD) software to produce drawings.

A draftsman, spelt the same way in both British and American English, is also an individual who drafts (i.e. draws up) documents, especially for official purposes.

A Draftsperson is an artist skilled in technical drawing. The 'skill' is to draw complex instructions precisely and accurately. The 'art' is to arrange that information in an beautiful, eye pleasing way. Combine these two factors and you have accurate drawings that are easy to use.

DRAFTING includes any task that utilizes graphics to convey instructions to another person. Commonly this is associated with the making of plans for structures or mechanical devices before they are built.

DISCIPLINES of drafting include: Architectural, Civil, Structural, Plumbing, Cartography, Electrical, Thermodynamics (and HVAC), Mechanical, Hydraulics, Telecommunications, Materials and Aerodynamics.

ALTERNATE spelling, meaning the same thing, can be draughtsperson, draughtsman, draftsman, drafter or drafties.

CAD, or computer aided drafting, is the modern, principle tool, used by drafters to create drawings or plans. AutoCAD and Microstation are two popular CAD software packages.

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