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Drafting or draughtsmanship, is method used by, for example, designers and architects, to prepare drawings used in connection with the layout, design and construction of a building or product. These drawings are often referred to as working drawings and include Floor plans/Plan views, Elevations, Sections. The scale fo these drawings vary greatly, from 1:5/1:1 for components and assembly details, 1:200/1:50 for a location drawing, to1:2000/1:500 for survey and layouts.

Although drafting conventions may vary slightly, the broad principles of drafting are always the same: suitablility for the intended purpose, accuracy, legibility and neatness, economy in time and labour.

The preparation of working drawings using a conventional drawing table is time consuming and labour intensive. The advent of CAD has greatly simplified and speeded the process. Any mistake or revisions can, for example, be adjusted quickly without the need to redraw the entire drawing. Nonetheless, basic drafting conventions still apply.

For examples:

Lines should meet properly without gaps. Not doing so could lead to misinterpretation
Broken lines with short strokes should be used for hidden overhead details and broken lines with long strokes for projection lines
Section lines should be shown on the plan view
Lines thicknesses should be used to convey the 3-dimensional attributes (height and depth) of a drawing. For example, in a floor plan, the lines closer to the viewer (e.g. the walls) are thicker than the lines further away (e.g. the furniture). The further away the object, the thinner the lines. This convention is important for accurate reading and understanding of drawings.

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