Tone of voice

We’re LoveCrafts, and we’re here to connect people through the joy of making.

We’re playful but never foolish. Joyful but never fake. Inspiring and guiding but never prescriptive. Knowledgeable but never bossy.

And so much more.

We’re enthusiastic and encouraging - more “You can do it!” than “You should try it.”

We’re positive and upbeat - more “We know you’ll love these new lines just as much as we do!” than “Our new lines are in.”

We’re clear and to the point - more “Check out these awesome snuggly patterns for fall” than “You may enjoy some of these patterns from our collection.”

And sometimes, we’re even a bit silly. After all, everyone loves a crafting pun now and then. (And sew do we!)

Because this is our spirit, it’s also the way we write.

(Reese Witherspoon + Jameela Jamil = “SpoonJam.”)

This is the voice of LoveCrafts, personified.

SpoonJam is relatable, approachable, sunny, silly, and downright joyful-with just a dash of not taking herself too seriously (this company is about crafting, after all!). She’s not afraid to show excitement or passion, is inclusive to everyone, and is always down to talk over coffee (or wine, if you’re offering).

SpoonJam is essentially the ideal BFF - and the kind of person you want to go on all your crafting adventures with.

When it comes to writing in the LoveCrafts voice, it’s easy to fall back on common British phrases, (we're a very British lot!) which might not always be easy to understand for everyone. That’s why we created this “Go-to phrases” list. It’s here to tell you what we do say, and what we don’t say. And if you have a question that isn’t answered by the below guide, just ask yourself: “Self, how would SpoonJam word this?

As for our three targets (Passionate Pippa, Follower Fiona, and Bargain Beth), there are specific words and phrases they’re each likely to respond to.

Passionate Pippa

"I love spending my time knitting/crocheting and getting ideas for my next project (I sometimes have a few on the go at once). I also enjoy sewing and other needlecrafts. I’ve been crafting for a while so I’m pretty good, but I still like to learn new techniques and challenge myself. I make so many projects that I tend to shop in lots of different places and a variety of brands, it depends what I am making. Knitting and crochet are really sociable hobbies for me and I love to share my passion with others."

Follower Fiona

"I tend to dip in and out of lots of different crafts when I’m not at work. I like anything that makes it easier to do my crafts, and rely a lot of recommendations and what’s popular to decide on projects and which brands to use. It’s great when I can find everything I need in one place. Crafting is a social hobby for me, I like to do it with others, share what I’m working on and get opinions. At the moment I am trying to develop my crochet."

Bargain Beth

"Crochet is my favourite hobby, but time gets in the way and I try to avoid expensive projects. I love looking online for inspiration and free patterns and have loads saved for future projects. I am always on the lookout for good deal and will often use acrylic yarns. I like to make small projects like hats, toys and home accessories."

Now that we’ve gone over what we don’t say and what we do say, let’s dive into the things we want to say a lot.

This list is divided into two sections: the way we speak to the world, and the way we speak to customers in customer service settings.

How we speak to the world

Here is a list of our very favorite words and phrases we love to use as a brand. Let this section act as your well of inspiration. Your barrel of ideas. Your vat of vision! You get where we’re going with this.

We celebrate and support all makers, so it’s important to consider the wider effect of your words. Our words should never exclude people or reference differences. Most importantly, our words should be respectful of everyone. Being mindful about the words we use, means not using words or phrases that some groups of people find hurtful or offensive.

“We believe that all makers, no matter their race, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion or disability should feel welcomed, heard, valued and respected.”

How we talk about “crafting”

“Crafts” is in our name, but there’s a lot of nuance around this word. So it’s important to use it in specific ways.

How we speak in a customer service setting

It's important our makers know how much we care. Here's how we show it.

You probably have a good grasp of the LoveCrafts personality at this point, but there’s even more to cover. What’s LoveCrafts’s point of view on humor? Puns? Exclamation points?! These are very important topics and central to what makes us unique. Take a read.

Humor

You may be wondering: Is LoveCrafts a funny brand? The answer to that is yes! We love humor.

But, we do like to use humor in specific ways. We love…

• The use of puns: See following section for more detail.
• The use of memes: Our audience loves a good crafting or making meme!
• Engaging in humorous pop-culture moments: We always get involved in April Fool’s, but would never be offensive in any way.

However, we don’t love making straight-up jokes (“Why did the chicken cross the road?”). So let’s not do that.

Overall, we never take ourselves too seriously, and we’re always looking at things in a joyful, happy light.

Puns

Do we use puns? We sew do. We’re playful and puns are playful, so it only makes sense for us to use them. Not a crazy amount, but a few here and there will be loved by all three of our targets.

Examples? Don’t mind if we do:

Sew much fabric, so little time.

You’ve got us on pins and needles.

You make our hearts skip a stitch!

We’ll keep you in the loop

This had us in stitches!

We’re feeling sheepish.

It all has a common thread.

Exclamation points!

When it comes to exclamation points, it can be a tricky balance. Use them too much, and we’ll look insincere. Use them too little, and we’ll come off as cold and overly professional.

The ideal approach is to use exclamation marks sparingly. Our writing should radiate an overall warmth and enthusiasm, so we really shouldn’t need to use them very much. But, sometimes, an exclamation mark in the right place can be so charming, you’ve just gotta use it.

Here are some customer service examples:

Good!
Thanks so much for writing to us, Candace. We totally understand where you’re coming from about your order. We’re sending you a new pattern ASAP!

Bad!
Thanks so much for writing us, Candace. We totally understand where you’re coming from about your order! We’re sending you a new pattern ASAP!!!

See? You only needed one exclamation point in that scenario.

Good!
Check out this amazing new maxi dress tutorial. Alright, so it looks just a tad bit challenging - but we think it’ll be totally worth it. Let us know how it goes!

Bad!
Wow! Check out this amazing new maxi dress tutorial! Alright, so it looks just a tad bit challenging - but we think it’ll be totally worth it! Let us know how it goes.

Happy faces

You may be tempted to use a happy face in your customer service dealings. To be clear, we don’t mean an emoji, but one of these babies → :).

And to that, we say...go ahead!

Two rules:

1. We only use one :) per communication. And really, that’s pushing it. It’s nice, but too many will look unprofessional.
2. We never use a :) in an editorial post.

ALL CAPS

Just like exclamation points, using all-caps should be done sparingly. Our general rule is this: all caps can be used in a design setting (banner ads, a thumbnail, etc), but not in a typed-out email or social post. EASY! We mean, ahem, easy.

There are some words that are just different in America and the UK. So, for this section, we created a handy translation list, which will guide you going forward. But beyond differences in commonly used words, there are also differences in crafting terminology - also here for your reading enjoyment.

Time to put these words into practice! Here are some examples to get you started.

Inspiration articles

Inspiration articles are a huge part of the LoveCrafts experience. After all, inspiration is what gets people excited about crafting, which is one of our main goals. So, our tone of voice must shine brightly in our inspiration articles.

Here’s an example of how our “Knitting for Christmas” article might start:

Bring on the snow, caroling, eggnog, and cozy sweaters. Because it’s finally the best time of the year: Christmas! We’re just a little excited, if you can’t tell. If you’re planning on knitting your way through the holiday season, let this be your essential guide to your Christmas knitting projects. From knitted Christmas sweater patterns to learning to knit Christmas stockings, we have something Christmassy for everyone up our sleeves - whether you're knitting something yourself or looking for gifts for knitters. So get yourself some eggnog, cookies, and favorite yarn, because you’re in for your most festive holiday season yet.

Here’s how we might explain our color comparison tool:

'How does the color comparison tool work?,’ you ask? It’s a piece of cake. Just choose your yarn and then select ‘+Add to compare.’ From here, you can add up to four yarns from the same or different yarn brand - and just like that, you can see the difference in fiber composition, the difference in yarn weights, and the prices of each yarn. We think it’s pretty amazing. We hope you do too!

This is how we might open our Debbie Bliss interview:

We’re in London to film world-famous knitwear designer Debbie Bliss-and we’re here to learn everything about her awe-inspiring journey as a knitwear designer (trust us, you're in for a treat!). Debbie is sitting on her bright pink sofa, still slightly damp from washing it in a last-minute panic because we were coming to film. Her dogs Smiffy, a Parson Russell terrier, and Monty, a beagle, are getting cozy on the sofa too (they got wind of the photoshoot, and having already starred in Woolly Woofers, they’re feeling pretty confident about their modeling skills). Barry, Debbie’s husband, is making coffee, as he’s the one who "makes the fancy coffee”.

We’re an hour into the shoot, but no filming has been done yet. Debbie loves a chat, and she has so many stories to tell. She’s telling us everything - and we mean everything! - about her life at the moment, from the refugee who lives with them while he’s training for the Olympics, to her pumpkin spice latte obsession, to her latest yarn inspiration from the vivid colors in sari shop windows.

Debbie has a kind heart and people gravitate toward her. It’s one of the reasons she’s been a friend of LoveCrafts for so long. Well, that, and she loves cake as much as we do (we know, we didn't think it was possible either!). But things haven’t been easy for Debbie in the past year. When her previous supplier closed for business, the Debbie Bliss brand ended up on a rocky road-and unfortunately, not the chocolate kind. But thanks to a new collaboration with us (cue our choreographed happy dance!), the Debbie Bliss brand that you know and love will live on.

And how do we treat inspiration articles written by an influencer? In other words, someone who’s not from LoveCrafts?

If we’re asking an influencer to write something on our site, we should let them do it in their natural voice, and only edit for grammatical errors.

However, it’s important that we make it as clear as possible in the header section that this is not a LoveCrafts employee.

So we would include some information about the influencer in the sub-head, like this:

Sub-head: Post by Kate Eastwood. Kate is a blogger, crafter and nursery school teacher who loves nothing more than hanging out at home - with crochet, couch time and tea being at the top of her to-do list. Published on October 19, 2018.

Product descriptions

When it comes to product descriptions, we need to not just keep our tone of voice in mind, but SEO in mind as well.

In other words, we need to be more than just our friendly, enthusiastic selves. We need to be our friendly, enthusiastic, informative selves.

Email product descriptions

In terms of email product descriptions, we need to do the same, just keep it shorter. Here are a couple great examples for how to integrate descriptive terms into a shorter format:

Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo DK
A bamboo/wool blend, perfect for your soft and snuggly crochet creations.

Lion Brand Landscapes
Oh wow! You’ll be dazzled by the colorways of this bulky yarn.

Category descriptions

We want our category descriptions to be informative, lighthearted, and between 3 and 4 sentences.

Structurally, it’s always a good idea to open with something everyone can relate to, include information about what our customer will find in that specific category, and end with a call-to-action.

Here are a couple great examples on how to weave our tone of voice into our category descriptions:

Clearance - Knit for Less!
We're clearing out our stash to make way for some new season delights (sometimes there really is a thing as too much yarn, but you didn't hear that from us). Every month you'll find some unbelievable bargains on end of season yarns, discontinued lines and a few treats we've thrown in there, simply because we love you.

Christmas Knitting Patterns
Like a kid on Christmas morning, knitting for the holidays fills our hearts with glee! Snuggle up with your Christmas yarn and knit your way through the holiday season. There are hundreds of festive projects to choose from, like Fair Isle Christmas sweaters, sweet-as-candy Christmas stockings, and adorable knitted tree ornaments the whole family will love. Check your list of who’s been naughty or nice, as Santa has a whole lot of festive patterns to start knitting!

Help center

The help center is where our customers go to find simple answers to their questions, but that doesn’t mean we can’t weave in our tone of voice!

Here's an example of how to do it:

FAQ:

The yarn I need is out of stock.

Our answer:

Oh no! That’s never fun, and we don’t like it when that happens. Luckily you can use our handy 'Notify Me' service.

Here’s how to use it: Select the shade and amount of yarn you'd like, and click on the 'Notify Me' button.

Then, when new stock arrives, we'll send you an email with a link to your desired item.

Just FYI, it does usually take 14 business days to receive new stock at our warehouse. Please get in touch with us for more info if your project is time-sensitive, or if you need to match a dye lot.

And, although we’ll always try our very best, we can’t always source more of a particular product. Some products do get discontinued and are no longer available from the supplier.

Thanks so much for reaching out. Keep on crafting!

Love, Team LoveCrafts

Grammar is incredibly important because it helps us keep our writing clear and consistent. This section lays out LoveCrafts’ house style, which applies to all of our content unless otherwise noted in this guide. Prepare yourself though - we cover a lot in this section, so use the search feature if you’re looking for something in particular!

Basics

Write for all readers. Some people will read every word you write. Others will just skim. Help everyone read better by grouping related ideas together and using descriptive headers and subheaders.

Focus your message. Create a hierarchy of information. Lead with the main point or the most important content, in sentences, paragraphs, sections, and pages.

Be concise. Use short words and sentences. Avoid unnecessary modifiers.

Be specific. Avoid vague language. Cut the fluff.

Be consistent. Stick to the copy patterns and style points outlined in this guide.

Abbreviations and Acronyms

If there’s a chance your reader won’t recognize an abbreviation or acronym, spell it out the first time you mention it. Then use the short version for all other references. If the abbreviation isn’t clearly related to the full version, specify in parentheses.

• First use: Network Operations Center
• Second use: NOC
• First use: Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)
• Second use: UTC

If the abbreviation or acronym is well known, like API or HTML, use it instead (and don’t worry about spelling it out).

Active voice

Use active voice. Avoid passive voice.

In active voice, the subject of the sentence does the action. In passive voice, the subject of the sentence has the action done to it.

• Yes: Marti logged into the account.
• No: The account was logged into by Marti.

Words like “was” and “by” may indicate that you’re writing in passive voice. Scan for these words and rework sentences where they appear.

One exception is when you want to specifically emphasize the action over the subject. In some cases, this is fine.

• Your account was flagged by our abuse team.

Capitalization

We use a few different forms of capitalization. Title case capitalizes the first letter of every word except articles, prepositions, and conjunctions. Sentence case capitalizes the first letter of the first word.

When writing out an email address or website URL, use all lowercase.

• mary@lovecrafts.com
• lovecrafts.com

Don't capitalize random words in the middle of sentences. Here are some words that we never capitalize in a sentence. For more, see the Word List.

• website
• internet
• online
• email

Title vs Sentence Case

There can be a lot of confusion when it comes to capitalization. Let’s break it down:

Buttons: Title Case

Yes: “Shop Now” No: “Shop now”

Headlines and Blog Post Titles: Sentence Case

Yes: “#Slowtober: 10 ways you can get involved” No: “#Slowtober: 10 Ways You Can Get Involved”

Headings on Website: Title Case

Yes: “Sewing Inspiration” No: “Sewing inspiration”

CTAs in Blog Posts: Title Case

Capitalize all words in CTAs, except a, an, the, at, by, for, in, of, on, to, up, and, as, but, or, and nor."

Yes: "Explore More Crochet Patterns" No: "Explore more Crochet Patterns"

Contractions

They’re great! They give your writing an informal, friendly tone. In most cases, use them as you see fit.

Emojis

Emoji are a fun way to add humor and visual interest to your writing, but use them infrequently and deliberately. Never use them more than once in a single piece of communication (i.e. a customer email or a social post).

Numbers

• Ten new employees started on Monday, and 12 start next week.
• Meg won 1st place in last year’s Halloween costume contest.
• We hosted a group of 8th graders who are learning to sew.

(Note: Sometimes it feels weird to use "1" instead of "one." Just go with your gut.)

Numbers over 3 digits get commas:

• 999
• 1,000
• 150,000

Write out big numbers in full. Abbreviate them if there are space restraints, as in a tweet or a chart: 1k, 150k.

Dates

Generally, spell out the day of the week and the month. Abbreviate only if limited space.

• Saturday, January 24
• Sat., Jan. 24

Decimals and fractions

Spell out fractions.

• Yes: two-thirds
• No: 2/3

Use decimal points when a number can’t be easily written out as a fraction, like 1.375 or 47.2.

Percentages

Use the % symbol instead of spelling out "percent."

Ranges and spans

Use a hyphen (-) to indicate a range or span of numbers.

• It takes 20-30 days.

Money

When writing about US currency, use the dollar sign before the amount. Include a decimal and number of cents if more than 0.

• $20
• $19.99

When writing about other currencies, follow the same symbol-amount format:

• ¥1
• €1

Telephone numbers

For American numbers, we use dashes without spaces between numbers.

• 555-867-5309

For our own UK number (and other international numbers), we display it the British way without dashes.

• +44 845 544 2196

Imperial vs. Metric System

It’s important that we always use the correct metric system. This is very important, because in the world of crafts, things like inches and centimeters will be standard to particular regions.

Imperial system (US)

• Fahrenheit
• Inches
• Pounds
• Miles

Metric system (UK and AUS)

• Celsius
• Millimeters/centimeters
• Kilograms
• Kilometers

Times and dates

Use numerals and am or pm, with a space in between. Don’t use minutes for on-the-hour time.


• 7 am

• 7:30 pm

Use a hyphen between times to indicate a time period.


• 7am-10:30pm

Specify time zones when writing about an event or something else people would need to schedule. Since LoveCrafts is in New York, we default to ET.

Abbreviate time zones within the continental United States as follows:

• Eastern time: ET
• Central time: CT
• Mountain time: MT
• Pacific time: PT

When referring to international time zones, spell them out: Nepal Standard Time, Australian Eastern Time. If a time zone does not have a set name, use its Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) offset.

Abbreviate decades when referring to those within the past 100 years.

• the 00s
• the 90s

When referring to decades more than 100 years ago, be more specific:

• the 1900s
• the 1890s

Punctuation

The apostrophe’s most common use is making a word possessive. If the word already ends in an s and it’s singular,  you don’t need to add another extra s, you can just use an apostrophe. If the word ends in an s and is plural, just add an apostrophe.

• The donut thief ate Sam’s donut.
• The donut thief ate Chris’ donut.
• The donut thief ate the managers’ donuts.

Apostrophes can also be used to denote that you’ve dropped some letters from a word, usually for humor or emphasis. This is fine, but do it sparingly.

Avoid using apostrophes where letters are missing in examples such as PCs, 1900s

Colons

Use a colon (rather than an ellipsis, hyphen, or comma) to offset a list.

• Erin ordered 3 kinds of donuts: glazed, chocolate, and pumpkin.

You can also use a colon to join 2 related phrases. If a complete sentence follows the colon, capitalize the 1st word.

• I was faced with a dilemma: I wanted a donut, but I’d just eaten a bagel.

Commas

When writing a list, use the serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma).


• Yes: David admires his parents, Oprah, and Justin Timberlake.
• No: David admires his parents, Oprah and Justin Timberlake.

Otherwise, use common sense. If you’re unsure, read the sentence out loud. Where you find yourself taking a breath, use a comma.

Dashes and hyphens

Use a hyphen (-) without spaces on either side to link words into a single phrase, or to indicate a span or range.


• first-time user
• Monday-Friday

And while others might use an em-dash (—) to offset an aside, we choose to use a hyphen, with a space on each side. It comes off as friendlier and more casual.

• This new culotte pattern - just uploaded to our site last week - is super cute.
• Katie thought Lauren was the donut thief, but she was wrong - it was Miranda.

Ellipses

Ellipses (...) can be used to indicate that you’re trailing off before the end of a thought. Use them sparingly. Don’t use them in titles or headers or as a way to add a dramatic pause, but you can use them in a playful sense.

Here’s how to use ellipses:

• End of a thought: It’s National Craft Month! Now if only we were on the couch, needles in hand...
• Playful: Many of you have asked if we would be adding more tutorials this month. And to that we say...yes!

Here’s how to not use ellipses:

• In title or header: It’s not a hobby...it’s a passion: 5 stories from Our Maker Life 2018
• As dramatic pause: At LoveCrafts, making is our passion. Sewing is what we live for. Crafting...is our life.

Ellipses, in brackets, can also be used to show that you're omitting words in a quote.

• “Instagram has an amazing community of crafters. [...] Some of the things you see are mind boggling! We love how the internet has opened up skill sharing, it’s so easy to learn new techniques and be inspired by people from right across the globe.”

Periods

Periods go inside quotation marks. They go outside parentheses when the parenthetical is part of a larger sentence, and inside parentheses when the parenthetical stands alone.

• Dave said, “I ate a donut.”
• I ate a donut (and I ate a bagel, too).
• I ate a donut and a bagel. (The donut was Katie’s.)

Leave a single space between sentences.

Question marks

Question marks go inside quotation marks if they’re part of the quote. Like periods, they go outside parentheses when the parenthetical is part of a larger sentence, and inside parentheses when the parenthetical stands alone.

Use quotes to refer to words and letters, titles of short works (like articles and poems), and direct quotations.

Periods and commas go within quotation marks. Question marks within quotes follow logic: If the question mark is part of the quotation, it goes within. If you’re asking a question that ends with a quote, it goes outside the quote.

Use single quotation marks for quotes within quotes.

• Who was it that said, “A fool and his donut are easily parted”?
• Brad said, “A wise man once told me, ‘A fool and his donut are easily parted.’”

Semicolons

Go easy on semicolons. They usually support long, complicated sentences that could easily be simplified. Try an hyphen (-) instead, or simply start a new sentence.

Ampersands

Don't use ampersands unless one is part of a company or brand name.

• Ben and Dan
• Ben & Jerry’s

People, places, and things

File extensions

When referring generally to a file extension type, use all uppercase without a period. Add a lowercase s to make plural.

• GIF
• PDF
• HTML
• JPGs

When referring to a specific file, the filename should be lowercase:

• slowclap.gif
• MCBenefits.pdf
• ben-twitter-profile.jpg
• ilovedonuts.html

Pronouns

If your subject’s gender is unknown or irrelevant, use “they,” “them,” and “their” as a singular pronoun. Use “he/him/his” and “she/her/her” pronouns as appropriate. Don’t use “one” as a pronoun.

Quotes

When quoting someone in a blog post or other publication, use the present tense.

• “LoveCrafts has really taken my creativity to the next level,” says Nicole McDougal.

Names and titles

The first time you mention a person in writing, refer to them by their first and last names. On all other mentions, refer to them by their first name.

Capitalize the names of departments and teams (but not the word "team" or "department").

• Marketing team
• Support department

Capitalize individual job titles when referencing to a specific role. Don't capitalize when referring to the role in general terms.

• Our new Marketing Manager starts today.
• All the managers ate donuts.

Don't refer to someone as a “ninja,” “rockstar,” or “wizard” unless they literally are one.

Schools

The first time you mention a school, college, or university in a piece of writing, refer to it by its full official name. On all other mentions, use its more common abbreviation.

• Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Tech
• Georgia State University, GSU

Places

Spell out all city and state names. Don’t abbreviate city names.

Per AP Style, all cities should be accompanied by their state, with the exception of: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Orleans, NYC, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington.

On first mention, write out United States. On subsequent mentions, US is fine. The same rule applies to any other country or federation with a common abbreviation (European Union, EU; United Kingdom, UK).

URLs and websites

Capitalize the names of websites and web publications. Don’t italicize.

Avoid spelling out URLs, but when you need to, leave off the http://www.

Our company's legal entity name is “LoveCrafts Inc.” in the US, and “LoveCrafts Collective Ltd.” in the UK. Our trade name is “LoveCrafts.” When writing legal documents or contracts, use whichever is appropriate. Otherwise, use "LoveCrafts."

Always capitalize the “L” and “C” in LoveCrafts.

Refer to LoveCrafts as “we,” not “it.”

Honor companies’ own names for themselves and their products. Go by what’s used on their official website.

• iPad
• YouTube
• Yahoo!

Also, always refer to a company or product as “it” (not “they”).

• Do: “LoveCrafts has really taken my creativity to the next level,” says Nicole McDougal.
• Don’t: “LoveCrafts have really taken my creativity to the next level,” says Nicole McDougal.

Text formatting

Use italics to indicate the title of a long work (like a book, movie, or album) or to emphasize a word.

• Dunston Checks In
• Brandon really loves Dunston Checks In.

Don’t use underline formatting, and don’t use any combination of italic, bold, caps, and underline.

Left-align text, never center or right-aligned.

Leave one space between sentences, never 2.

Use active, positive language rather than negative language. One way to detect negative language is to look for words like “can’t,” “don’t,” etc.

• Yes: To get a donut, stand in line.
• No: You can’t get a donut if you don’t stand in line.