How to do a 'Design Patent' drawing in Xara - any advice?

[shiphen]

Thanks for all your comments.

Yes, a "registered design" is called a "design patent" in the US.
I have firmly been advised to use "line drawings" not CAD renderings/photographs and certainly not colour.

RESOLUTION
Handrawn
210mm ==> 8.26772inches, x600DPI ==> 4960 dots (i.e. pixels).

That seems extremely high resolution. What I have noticed is that a lot of design patents even from companies with deep pockets (e.g. Apple Inc.) are rather low resolution and highly pixelated.


WOBBLY-LINES
I get the strong feeling that they are drawn by hand (irony of "handrawn" 's name noted!) because if one only means ROUGHLY this or that shape, drawing it too precisely using an exact CAD/ computer-generated line has the wrong impact.

i.e. There is great power in creating a drawing with slightly wobbly lines to communicate that you mean "roughly" this shape, rather than precisely this shape.

SHADING RULES
Line drawings for design registration also seems like a very dark art because from what I can see, in the US it seems that you MUST apply some sort of (limited) shading or stippling to indicated a 3D shape, whereas in the UK must not include any shading. [But this may be incorrect??]

STIPPLING
Stippling seems horribly labour-intensive and possibly out-of-date(??). The problem with it is that it needs to be of variable density. And don't think that you are allowed to use transparency. Greys are not permitted in line drawings.


BROKEN LINES
Broken lines have a very specific meaning in US patents at least. "A broken line disclosure is understood to be for illustrative purposes only and forms no part of the claimed design."


e.g. Here are some classic line drawings that the US patent office says are good examples.







See how rough and jagged they are. I'm just not sure how one would generate anything like them using Xara!

OR maybe these illustrations are just badly out-of-date??

J