Design
This section is all about good design. Some sources of information on this page came from a design bibliography compiled by Barbara Becker Simon and Chris Darway for the PMC Conference in 2008.
About Good Jewelry Design
Principles of Composition by Warren Feld. Some pieces of jewelry draw your attention. Others do not. Why? This well illustrated article is a useful resource for students of design.
Art, Design and Visual Thinking
An Interactive Textbook by Charlotte Jirousek. This website is an online textbook designed for a Cornell University course, FSAD 125 Art Design and Visual Thinking. It was created in 1995 by the instructor, Prof. Charlotte Jirousek. It has some great information about design theory and includes really good illustrations.
The Art of Creative Jewelry Design
Useful article about jewelry design.
Basic Design Principles
Multimedia design tutorial on basic design principles. This is from the Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia.
Bluemoon - Principles of Good Design Lessons
Online design course with nine lessons on the principles of design.
Common Questions on Design
Useful Q&A format exploring questions about good design. Published on the Jewelry Artist/Lapidary Journal website.
DesignandTech.com
Resource site for students studying Design and Technology. Has some great resources, particularly good tutorials for Photoshop, lots of resources for working with and designing fabric, working with wood, metal and plastic, mechanisms (pulleys and gears), general design history. You could easily spend a day following the links from this site.
Design Bibliography - Barbara Becker Simon and Chris Darway
This list of resources includes books and websites with useful information about design. Compiled for the PMC Conference in 2008.
A Design Process, Let Nature do the Work for you - Del Feast
Interesting article about using nature as a design resource.
Evolution of Metal Clay Design by Suzanne Wade
Interesting article from the Ganoksin website.
Gallery of Designs from Fire Mountain Gems
Useful resource for inspiration.
Jim Saw
This site contains the information for studying Design and Composition as taught by Jim Saw at Palomar College before he retired. It's a design course on-line. Full of great design projects for you to explore and experiment with.
Just Creative Design
Very simple and accessible blog by designer Jacob Cass. Learn the basics of design from an article written by Lauren Marie.
Nina Designs - Design Ideas
This website has hundreds of design ideas for jewelry makers. Each idea has a parts list so you can order the parts from the website. Great for inspiration.
Provocative Design - Tim McCreight
This PDF summarises a presentation given by Tim McCreight at the 2008 PMC Conference. Includes great pictures to illustrate his points.
Some thoughts on design
Thought provoking article from Jewelry Lessons.
Technology Student
This UK site is aimed at teenagers studying for technology subjects at school. It's packed with resources about resistant materials (plastic, metal, wood), mechanisms, joints and fittings, electronics, tools. The sections about design, although aimed towards product design, equally apply to jewelry design. Working through the design process outlined here is a useful exercise for jewelry designers. Well worth a poke around.
When it comes to selling jewelry, does a person's size matter?
Though provoking article about designing jewelry for the size of the wearer.
