Knitting and Typography

While lurking on the Ravelry boards, I noticed a common theme among many independent designers, both newbies and professionals… Most of us know a great deal about knitting and whatever our day job is, but we need help making our patterns look professional. While I am certainly not a paragon of virtue in this department, there are some rules of thumb that good patterns follow…

1. Clean type faces.
2. Good use of whitespace. Take it from a fellow knitter, that 1.5 or more spacing between each paragraph (row) isn’t optional. Without it, it’s hard to tell where one row begins and the other ends.
3. Consistent layouts (i.e. column usage is consistent).
4. Photos, diagrams, and charts. If you see a diagram of how your sweater is pieced together in your head, but don’t draw it out to show me what you are thinking… Well, let’s just say that I’m a knitter, not a mind reader.
5. The designer’s name and contact information. I don’t care how you include this, but if I like your pattern, I will come back to you for more. I can’t do that if I don’t have this information. Also, if there is a problem with the pattern, contacting you for clarification is much better than frogging my work. I’d rather have someone ask me a question than stop using my designs because of technical errors.
6. A Technical Editor. I know what you’re thinking, but no matter how good your eyes are or how experienced you are, you wrote the pattern. That means your brain fills in all the missing pieces without you even knowing it. Get another set of eyes…A good set of eyes…Use them…Thank them profusely.

I wish I could say that a technical editor is the most important thing/person on the above list, but as wonderful and intuitive as these fine people are, there is one thing that will make or break your pattern that they have little to no control over…typeface.

Now, I don’t personally subscribe to the notion that there are bad typefaces. However, there are some that are not suited to certain uses. For example, if your main body is written in a script or handwriting font, you either have 20/20 vision and don’t respect those of us who really do need our glasses or you have a sadistic streak and enjoy torturing your readers. Regardless, even if I bought it, don’t expect me to make it. (While I have never purchased one that was like this, let me assure that if I ever do, that will be the one and only sale you make to me. I will not give you more of my hard earned money for something else I cannot read.)

I’m not an expert on graphic design, but even I know presentation is important. Despite the old adage "Don’t judge a book by its cover", we do judge based on appearance. Therefore, I’ve dug through my links and my bookshelf and assembled a collection of resources on typography that I think you will find useful. Out of everything on this list, The Elements of Typographic Style is the resource I use most frequently.

• Articles
  • 13 Excellent Typefaces for Graphic Designers
  • On Choosing Type If you only read one of these links, this is the one to read.
  • Microsoft Typography – Features of TrueType and OpenType
  • 15 Tips to Choose a Good Text Type
  • What is a book font family?"
  • Typography Speaks to Your Readers
  • Common Fonts to All Versions of Windows & Mac Equivalents (Browser Safe Fonts
  • 10 Web Typography Rules Every Designer Should Know
  • The Non-Typographer’s Guide to Practical Typeface Selection
  • Web Typography Cheat Sheet
  • 32 Inspirational Examples of Amazing Layout and Typography
  • 50 Useful Design Tools for Beautiful Web Typography
• Article Collections
  • A List Apart – Topic: Design: Typography If anyone out there is listening at this point, A List Apart is the definitive web design resource. Before finalizing your web design, skim through this site and see if your wonderful navigation idea will confuse the h-e-double hockey sticks out of your readers or not.
• Full Sites
  • i love typography If you have an in-depth question about typography (either print or web), start here.
  • Typies
  • Elements of Typographic Style Applied toe the Web This site’s server is down on a fairly regular basis. If you get an error, look up the site on google and click the cached link.
  • designing {with} typography This site is actually a class on typography. It requires Flash Player 7.
• Useful Books – Check your local library before purchasing!
  • Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst This little jewel has a place of honor on my desk.
  • The Complete Manual of Typography by Jim Felici
  • Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop
  • Typography Workbook: A Real-World Guide to Using Type in Graphic Design by Timothy Samara

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