While as an opera student, I can’t help but resent the associations of the word diva a little, the simple fact is that opera singers, knitting/crochet designers, human beings, and like characters tend to live up to it pretty well. And chihuahuas. (If you’re viewing this in an email, click ‘view in browser’ and you’ll see what I’m talking about.)
There’s a good deal of advice in the world about how to design successful knitting and crochet patterns, much of it very good. However, as strange as it may sound, design is only part of being a designer.
Patterns and People
Patterns don’t accept themselves for publication, tech edit themselves, test themselves, or knit/crochet themselves. Each of these steps require the designer to come into contact with others, and this is a good thing. It means that in spite of the fact that many designers work from home, we still have the immediate responsibility of being professional, civilized people.
But that’s just it—we have to be professional, civilized people. Anyone who has observed a handful of toddlers in action knows that this is not natural. It’s our nature to only see our own interests and our own problems, even if we don’t intend to be selfish. This means that our own professional interests tend to outweigh those of our publishers, tech editors, testers, and customers, unless we are deliberate about short-circuiting our own selfishness.
Been There, Done That
Let me offer a personal example. Several weeks ago I requested advice from more experienced designers on running tests for my patterns. One of my main questions was, “What are some of the most common pitfalls for designers running tests?” The most frequent answer? “Forgetting that the tester is doing you a favor, and not the other way around.”
They went on to say that many designers enter the testing phase in fear or in arrogance. One of the main fears is of testers ‘ghosting’—taking a pattern and running, and never doing the test. (This is a real, though not huge, possibility; however, it is a subject for another post.) The arrogances they named are many. Too-tight deadlines, constant pestering for updates, stifling requirements about what yarns are permissible to use, or hemming them in with penalties as if we expect them to be crooks and leave their obligations unfulfilled.
As a designer who had only worked with a few testers before (who were accountable to my publisher, not to me), this had never occurred to me. I had never considered the situation from a tester’s point of view—the investment of her time and yarn, the need for space so that she can do her job. I had failed to think of them as I would want to be thought of.
Love in Trifles
I once heard a wise man call etiquette ‘love in trifles’. Manners are how we express consideration and care for others, even those whom we never meet in person. Below I will briefly discuss areas where we as designers can apply this practically to our professional lives. I will be discussing interactions with publishers, yarn companies, tech editors, testers and customers, listed in no order of importance. These are the fiber industry members I have worked with most frequently, but every designer’s contacts and collaborators are different; I encourage you to be creative in applying these principles to other working relationships as well.
Publishers
In light of the first post in the Designer Tips series, on putting together professional proposals, this is an apt place to start. A proposal is their first impression of you and should be good, but someone who limits their good behavior to the first impression comes across as two-faced. In a word, don’t!
- Thank them for the opportunity to work with them!
- Order your communication as well as you do your proposals. Use proper spelling, punctuation, and capitalization; this will make your emails and other messages easier and more pleasant to read. This applies to all other business relationships below, as well.
- Be responsive. Reply as soon as possible to any communications from your publisher. (My phone is set up to notify me when I receive an email, so that I can read all mail as soon as it arrives and hopefully reply.) If you can’t meet their request immediately—for example, you’re out running errands and can’t stop to review the pattern layout they need you to look over—let them know that you’ve received their request and will address it soon. If the message comes in after hours or on a weekend (this often happens when your publisher is in a different time zone), try to respond as soon as your business hours begin again. Again, responsiveness is a priority in all interactions.
- Be flexible. Changes may happen to pattern name, color scheme, and more once your design is accepted. This is part of the publisher’s decision-making power, especially if your design will be part of a collection that needs to be unified. Don’t make a fuss unless it’s absolutely non-negotiable (for instance, if your pattern/sample deadline is suddenly shortened by a month); and even as you communicate that the change can’t be made, try to offer an alternate solution that will be best for you both.
- Fulfill your commitments. Do everything you can to meet all your deadlines, early if possible. With this comes the responsibility not to take on a project that you can’t commit to finishing on time.
- If you find or learn of an error in your pattern after publication, be sure to contact the publisher immediately so that they can update errata.
Yarn Support
This is a perk that many yarn companies, particularly artisan hand-dyers, offer to independent designers. However, in doing so, they invest in your work and take on a certain level of risk. As well as the principles listed above for working with publishers, here are some important things to keep in mind:
- Remember that while the yarn is free to you, that doesn’t mean it’s free. Someone invested skill, time, and resources into the skeins you receive in the mail. Respect that investment and take responsibility for how you use it. And thank them!
- Along those lines, don’t leave the yarn company in the dark once you receive the yarn; offer to send progress updates and to keep them abreast of the design process. Many suppliers appreciate this, as it gives them an extra level of confidence that you’re not taking advantage of them. Even those that trust you from the outset and don’t require you to update them will most likely appreciate the offer.
- Return the favor—promote the yarn along with the design. This may involve exclusively recommending their yarn for the pattern on your sales platforms, reviewing the yarn on your blog or social media, and more. Again, be creative!
- If you have full skein(s) left over once the sample is complete, offer to return them.
Tech Editors
Even if their math know-how, grammar skills, and eye for detail is better than yours, they’re still human. Don’t make their job any more painful for them than it has to be!
- Don’t throw your pattern together in haste, counting on your tech editor to fix everything. While this is not so much a temptation for indie designers who are paying their tech editor by the hour, it can seem quite harmless when your publisher is footing the bill. Not only will carelessness cost someone else good money, but it will leave a long and unpleasant cleanup job for your editor.
- Resist the urge to immediately argue when they suggest changes. If it’s a mathematical change (such as an errant stitch count), be sure you understand the change in context of the rest of the pattern and then make adjustments as necessary. If it’s a change in wording or instruction, try to understand why; if you end up disagreeing, do so in a polite and reasoned manner. In any case where they suggest edits, thank them.
Tester Knitters/Crocheters
Many of the potential discourtesies in this relationship have been mentioned above, so I won’t rehash them here.
- Even if your pattern has been tech edited before testing, it is likely that testers will find mistakes or perceived mistakes. Try to fully understand any questions or comments on this before replying; if changes are necessary, try to foresee any consequences to the rest of the pattern and catch them before sending the updates to the tester. During my first time working with a test knitter, I made several adjustments without accounting for how they would change the rest of the pattern. These tweaks had a domino effect for the rest of the design, causing much more frustration and confusion for both of us than was necessary.
- Don’t expect more of them than you would like to have expected of yourself as a tester. State your requirements up front and don’t add to them once the candidate has accepted; understand that they have lives besides testing your patterns, and that if their toddler has had the stomach bug or their grandmother needs knee surgery that those things are more important than your test. If you see a long-term pattern (pun intended) of bow-outs or excuses with no apology, even when they know the terms up front, they may not be the best testing candidate; but don’t assume that this is what they are doing on your first time working with them.
- My policy for responding to testers is slightly different than with the other collaborators listed above; since many testers get their work done on weekends, I do reply during business hours on Saturdays.
- Thank them for their help and their gift of time and resources; if you can, reward them! Many designers offer a free pattern of their choice once the test is complete.
Customers
After all, these are the people your patterns are designed for.
- Do your due diligence in creating the most usable pattern you possibly can for them.
- Mean it when you offer pattern support—answer questions cheerfully, graciously, and in detail. If a frustrated customer contacts you with a perceived problem (the first email I ever received from a customer was one of these), remain calm. This is one case where immediate reply may or may not be the best thing to do; if you can’t answer level-headedly, wait until you’ve had time to cool off/wind down. When you do write back, apologize if the mistake is yours. If not, walk them through the part of the pattern that they are struggling with, without patronizing them. And in all these scenarios—you guessed it—thank them for making your pattern!
- Receive criticism appropriately. If it’s constructive (“I wish you had included a schematic in this shawl pattern”), thank the customer and let them know that you will consider their suggestions. Every now and then you may be criticized in a way that is baseless, laced with expletives, or simply griping. Deal with these on a case-by-case basis; but generally it may be best not to reply.
In Conclusion
You’ll notice that under every heading, the most persistent point of this (very long) article is gratitude. Every one of these sub-groups that designers work with has something to offer that designers can’t do themselves; we need them as much as they need us. Forgetting that hurts everyone in the long run.
By no means is this list exhaustive; I’m certain there are many areas that I haven’t thought of yet in which I can improve. But I hope that this will help knitting and crochet pattern designers like myself to behave towards others in a more conscious, understanding, and courteous fashion.
In a word, don’t be a spangly chihuahua. (Trust me—the chihuahua’s a lot cuter at it than you and I will ever be.)
Have questions about any of the concepts covered in this post? Have a design question you’d like to have answered? Leave it in the comments below or contact me here—I can’t wait to hear from you!
