TYPE TIPS // Measurements

While a post on formatting type isn’t as sexy as one on photography, it is just as useful to you self-publishers out there, so read up!

Today I’m giving you some simple InDesign tips on how to use typography to make your pattern instructions more functional and professional looking. I’ve noticed that there are 3 characters that often get overlooked by self-publishers and while the pattern instructions aren’t incorrect, readers have an easier time reading the text if some (or all!) of these tips are used. Let’s talk about inch marks, multiplication symbols and fractions.

Inch Marks

Now, inch marks aren’t going to make or break your pattern copy, BUT if you’re looking to get your patterns looking polished, converting your quotation marks to inch marks is one easy way to do this.

Simply select the quotation mark and type and hold SHIFT + OPT + G on your keyboard. The quote mark will change to an inch mark.

PRO TIP: Do a Find/Replace and automate the conversion process. Be sure to double-check any text where you are intentionally using quotation marks, they will convert to inch marks if you go the Find/Replace route.

Multiplication Symbol

This one might seem really nit-picky, but hey, I’m a book designer, what do you expect?! One quick way I can tell if a pattern was thoughtfully designed is if multiplication symbols are used instead of a lowercase ‘x’. Not only does it give your layout some street cred, but using multiplication symbols help make the measurements easier to read.

Here’s how to do it: Highlight the ‘x’ In the text that you’d like to convert to a multiplication symbol. Then, go to the Glyphs panel and click the dropdown next to ‘Show’. Select ‘Math Symbols’, find the multiplication symbol and double-click to replace your ‘x’.

You could do this manually throughout your layout, but why? Simply do a Find/Replace being sure to include the spaces before and after the Find/Replace otherwise you’ll just replace all of the x’s in your document with multiplication signs and that’s not cute, trust me.

Fractions

Fractions: Everyone’s favorite kind of character to ignore. We all know we should format them, but they’re such a paaaaain! Right? Well, yeah, but they don’t have to be that big of a deal. Thankfully InDesign and OpenType fonts have made them easier to deal with.

First, confirm that the font you are using is an OpenType font. This will give you access to many type capabilities, including automatic fraction formatting. Once you know that you are working with an OpenType font, simply highlight the numbers and backslash that are included in the fraction. InDesign will convert the numbers to a numerator, fraction slash and denominator. I included a video because after years of hand-formatting, watching these fractions format before my eyes still feels like magic to me!

I hope that I’ve shared some knowledge with you here! Of course there are other, even more automated ways to do some of these things and I’m headed in that direction. First, though, I like to show how to manually do these things because it’s just good knowledge to have…like driving a manual car, it’s good to know how to do it even though there is an easier way.

Happy designing!
+ Kristy

AUTHENTIC & ACCURATE // A Free Gift for Pattern Designers

Hey there, Pattern Designers! There has been a great conversation happening amongst pattern designers around having patterns tested before selling to consumers. There are some pattern designers out there that write up a pattern and sell it without ever making the quilt! While the rest of you are taking pain-staking measures to ensure that your customers will have success (and enjoyment!) by hiring technical editors to review your instructions, hiring pattern testers to make sample quilts (sometimes multiple times!) and illustrators to make sure your step-by-step images make sense.

That’s a lot of effort, time and money but it's worth it, right? To have your customers associate your brand with quality is important. So how can you differentiate from the pattern designers that AREN'T doing quality-control? How can you assure a potential customer that when they purchase your pattern, that you have done all you can to make sure they will be successful?

In a conversation started by Raymond Steeves, Kim Kight suggested that there be a stamp of approval, indicating that a pattern had been tested. After riffing a bit and having fun with it, Nissa and I decided that we wanted to offer you a graphic that you can use on your patterns (print and PDF)! Visit our shop and download this icon to use on your printed patterns, your PDF downloads or even on your website!

Thank you all for having such wonderful, open conversations. Your willingness to share elevates the industry. We hope you are able to find use for our little gift of gratitude.

+ Kristy

VIDEO TUTORIAL // Placing Text in InDesign

Calling all pattern designers that have patterns to publish and have access to InDesign but are procrastinating because “I just don’t know how to get started and are you kidding me with all of the menus and options and toolbars within this freaking program…how is someone supposed to even get started with something like that?”

Does this sound like you?!

Ugh, I’m sorry, it IS frustrating to start working with something new—HELLO! That’s me attempting mitered corners on my binding for EVERY SINGLE QUILT I make.

Take a look at this 6-minute video where I talk about easy ways to import your text into an InDesign file. Throughout the video I throw out little tips and tricks that will make your work time in InDesign more efficient. And stick with the video until the end, I saved the best import method for last!

If you’re feeling ready to do this thing, visit our shop to download a P+P Pattern Design Template that has pre-designed Style Sheets and Master Pages—all you need to do is update the styles with fonts and colors that are specific to your brand.

I will be posting more tutorials specific to the P+P Pattern Design Template. Are there any specific topics you would like me to cover? I’d love to hear from you!

Happy Designing!
+ Kristy