Sep 18, 2014
The inspiration for this episode, free and low cost branding resources, is Celia Cruz, the Queen of Salsa. (Read on for details!) In this episode, I talk about free and low cost resources related to color, font, and logo design that you can use to visually brand (or rebrand) your yarn-related business.
I’m hosting my third annual Hispanic Heritage Month series on the Underground Crafter blog, featuring interviews with 14 crochet and knitting designers and bloggers. I decided to add a free pattern to my series this year, and chose a one-skein project I designed over the summer for the Stitchjones yarn club. Stitchjones had the theme of “Real World Wild Women,” and my design was inspired by Celia Cruz. (If you’re not familiar with Celia Cruz, you can find out more about this remarkable woman by watching this 3.5 minute video bio.)
While researching images of Celia for inspiration, I came across an article from a few years ago called “Celia Cruz and the Art of Rebranding” by Abel Delgado on Latin Link. The article shares a very interesting perspective on Celia’s innate knack for marketing and has a lot of ideas that are applicable to a yarn industry indie. Specifically, Delgado highlights Celia’s cross-media promotion, her success in introducing her work to new audiences without abandoning her loyal audience, and how by staying true to her core values and maintaining quality control, she was able to have a long and successful career.
There are many free and low cost resources you can use to create a cohesive visual brand for your yarn-related business. In this episode, I share a few, with a focus on color, font, and logo design.
This episode really focuses on visual branding, but I took a moment to talk about naming. There are three prevailing theories about naming online, each with some advantages and disadvantages.
In this episode, we aren’t focusing much on naming, so the debate continues on! Instead, we’re focusing on 3 visual elements to your brand: color, font, and logo.
These tools can help you to identify and present a consistent color palette throughout your business, including across social media, in your packaging, and on your stationary and other materials.
These three sites (Design Seeds, Colour Lovers, and Color Collective) present free color palettes that you may want to choose from to represent your business.
Both Design Seeds and Colour Lovers include the “hex number” or “html number,” a numeric value that is used to represent a specific color for the web.
Once you find a palette you like on Design Seeds, hover over the small color boxes on the right to see the hex numbers.
On Colour Lovers, choose Palettes from the upper left Browse drop down menu.
After browsing palettes, choose one you like and click on it to get more details.
After clicking on a palette, you will find hex numbers for each color in the palette listed.
Color Collective presents palettes without hex/html numbers.
If you already have a specific palette or main color in mind, these two sites can help you develop a web palette.
Once you have the hex numbers for your color palette, you can use them in graphic design programs and websites to create backgrounds, banners, business cards, etc.
In Photoshop, first click on the appropriate color box.
Enter the hex number in the lower left corner of the pop up color selection box and then click “Ok.”
There are several locations where you can enter hex numbers in PicMonkey.
In Canva, you can add new colors to your color menus. From the background or text menu, click on the plus sign.
Once the pop up opens, enter the hex number in the color code box. It will be added to your standard colors for the rest of your session. You can also save up to 3 brand colors in a free account.
Once you’ve identified a color palette and its associated hex numbers, you can consider different font options.
Not all fonts that are pre-installed on your computer or with software are available for commercial use. Two great sources of free fonts available for commercial use are Google Fonts and Font Squirrel.
Once you have identified a color palette and fonts for your business, you may decide to develop a logo. While logos provide great visual branding, I would encourage you to delay your logo design until you are really confident that it will represent your business conceptually and aesthetically.
If you choose to design your own logo, you can use design software such as Photoshop, or the design features in PicMonkey.
Unless you are very skilled in graphic design, you may want to outsource your logo. Four great options for affordable graphic design are Etsy, 99 Designs, Fiverr, and Ravelry.
You can also take the opposite approach and work with a graphic designer first to develop a logo. The designer can help you identify a color palette, fonts, and other graphic elements for your brand.
I don’t have a logo for Underground Crafter, my crochet and knitting design, teaching, and blogging business, but I do use a consistent set of colors. For the Creative Yarn Entrepreneur, I have a logo for the podcast and a consistent set of colors and fonts.
I found both color palettes on Design Seeds. The palettes are related but each contains distinct colors.
The Creative Yarn Entrepreneur Show is no longer broadcasting. Episodes are available as a service to the yarn community. This episode originally aired in September, 2014. Be aware that content may be outdated.
If you'd like to chat with other yarn-related business owners, join the Creative Yarn Entrepreneurs Facebook group. Support Marie's work by buying one of her books, Make Money Teaching Crochet: Launch Your Business, Increase Your Side Income, Reach More Students (Amazon | Gumroad) or Design It, Promote It, Sell It: Online Marketing for Your Crochet and Knit Patterns (Amazon | Gumroad).