The goal of most knitting patterns designers is to connect with their ideal knitter and actually sell patterns! But with so much competition and noise online, it can be hard to stand out and create a memorable brand so you can attract the right knitters.
Today, you’re in luck! I’m going to share one crucial element that will help you establish a cohesive brand, connect with your target audience, and build a recognizable presence without spending unnecessary money on constant rebranding. I’ll cover what a style guide is, how it works, and how you can get started creating one for your knitting design business. Keep reading for more details.
What is a style guide?
A style guide is a set of guidelines that outlines the visual and written elements of your brand and the formatting and presentation of your knitting patterns. It aims to create a consistent and recognizable brand identity across all platforms, from your website and social media to your pattern PDFs, ensuring a professional and cohesive experience for your customers.
Why Is a Style Guide Important?
Harvard Business Review has stated that businesses with well-defined brand strategies can expect revenue growth of 10-20% – in all honesty that exact number doesn’t matter much.
But, what it does mean is that having a cohesive brand identity can significantly impact your bottom line. When your brand is consistent, it builds trust and recognition with your audience, making them more likely to purchase your patterns.
The problem your style guide solves is that many pattern designers don’t have a clear and consistent brand identity. They often outline how a pattern should look for their technical editor, but don’t take that additional step to define additional elements of their brand that impact whether a knitter ever takes the step to purchase their pattern in the first place.
By implementing a style guide, you’ll be able to create a professional and cohesive brand presence that resonates with your target audience.
This way, you will attract more of your ideal customers and build a stronger brand reputation.
Also, a style guide gives you the ability to maintain consistency across all your marketing materials and create a recognizable brand identity.
That means you won’t have to constantly reinvent the wheel every time you create a new graphic or write a social media post – let’s work smarter, not harder!
Style Guide Content
If creating a style guide sounds overwhelming, I get it. It sounds simple until you try to do it. However, style guides are live documents – you can build them as your business grows and designs mature, you don’t have to do it all at once!
So I put together the examples below of elements you can include in a style guide to break it down for you so you can easily get started with creating your style guide and you can get a sample style guide sent directly to your inbox here.
Your Logo
This is the visual representation of your brand.
Although this may seem like just a simple image, it’s actually the foundation of your visual identity.
Plus, it’s what people will instantly associate with your brand. That means you have a visual anchor for all your marketing materials.
A logo can be a graphic, a wordmark (just text), or a combination of both. Take the Purl & Publish logo for example – I chose colors that are part of my existing brand, and decided that I just wanted to have a word mark for the brand. It’s simple and clean.
Color Palette
The colors you use will evoke certain emotions and create a specific mood.
The more you can intentionally select your brand colors, the more you can control how your brand is perceived.
That’s where a color palette comes in.
A color palette is a set of 3-5 colors that you consistently use in your branding. If you’re stumped on what color palette you should use, head on over to Pinterest and search for different color palettes that you’re interested in (try “bold color palette” or “spring color palette” or “modern color palette” or “minimalist color palette”). This can be a fun way to design your brand! You can also use color palette generator tools like Coolors or Adobe Color to create a palette that reflects your brand aesthetic.
If your designs are rustic and earthy, you might choose a color palette of browns, greens, and oranges. If your designs are modern and minimalist, you might choose a color palette of black, white, and gray with a pop of color.
The Purl & Publish color palette is the same palette that I use for my pattern design brand Ashleigh Wempe Designs, and is also used for my online summit Knit Your Own Adventure. It uses four colors (in addition to white). I love the simplicity of the color palette, and orange has always been one of my favorite colors to play around with.
Typography (Fonts)
The fonts you use also play a crucial role in your branding.
Typography helps you create a distinct visual hierarchy and enhance readability.
A font pairing usually includes a heading font and a body text font.
For example:
You might use a bold serif font for headings and a clean sans-serif font for body text.
The best way to implement this is to choose two fonts that complement each other and use them consistently across all your materials. Canva is an excellent place to play around with typography – and there are tons of guides online (just do a quick google search for “font pairings” to get some ideas!).
Pattern Formatting
This is the set of rules and conventions that you use to format your knitting patterns. This is the part of a style guide that helps you write patterns quicker, easier, and lets your knitters get comfortable with your writing style and mannerisms.
Although this may seem like just a matter of personal preference, consistent pattern formatting is essential for clarity, readability, and professionalism.
Plus, it makes the tech editing process much smoother and more efficient (and cheaper for you!).
A pattern style guide should cover things like:
- Abbreviations: Which abbreviations you use for common knitting terms (e.g., k, p, st, rep).
- Measurements: How you present measurements (e.g., inches, centimeters, or both).
- Gauge Information: How you format gauge information (e.g., stitches and rows per inch/cm).
- Stitch Counts: How you present stitch counts within the instructions.
- Charts and Schematics: How you create and format charts and schematics.
- Page Layout and Design: How you format the overall layout of your pattern PDF (e.g., font sizes, margins, headings).
Tips for Style Guide Success
Here are a few tips to help you maximize your results with your style guide:
First, be consistent.
To achieve the best style guide results, you have to continually use it (and update it!).
When you create a cohesive brand experience, you effectively strengthen your brand recognition and build trust with your audience.
If you use the same colors and fonts on your website, social media, and pattern PDFs, your audience will instantly recognize your brand.
For better results, make sure you document (and update!) your style guide. This way, everyone who works on your brand (including yourself!) will have a clear reference.
To Get Started:
Think about your ideal customer: Who are they? What are their interests? What kind of aesthetic do they appreciate?
Consider their pain points: What problems are you solving for them? How can your brand visually communicate that you understand their needs?
Finally, review and update your style guide periodically.
Nowadays, design trends change frequently.
If you want to stay relevant and modern, you can’t overlook this crucial step.
And if the idea of creating a style guide makes you feel overwhelmed, consider this:
Having a style guide will actually save you time and effort in the long run.
One thing you can do is start small. Choose just 2-3 key elements to focus on initially (e.g., logo, color palette, fonts).
Grab my free Style Guide Template here.
Start Creating Your Style Guide Today
I hope this guide on style guides has been helpful. If you take anything away from this guide, remember that a style guide is essential for creating a professional and cohesive brand identity.
The best way to set up your brand for success is to start with a solid style guide, that way you can set yourself up for attracting your ideal customers and building a thriving business. So, what do you say? Are you ready to give it a go?
Free Style Guide Template
Now that you know the ins and outs of style guides, it’s time to grab your style guide template and see how easy it is to start building your brand. The following style guide includes everything you need to coordinate your brand visuals.
