Jewelry Design Guide
Every design motif in the Jewelry Guide, by symbol, theme and occasion
Jewelry design is organized here the way wearers actually choose it: by motif and meaning. This guide covers animal designs from cats, dogs and horses to birds, butterflies and fish; symbols including hearts, clovers, crosses, stars and smiley faces; flowers; religious and faith designs; character jewelry; holiday designs for Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's Day and St Patrick's Day; and the custom design process itself, with a guide to jewelry designers. Use the navigation below to reach each design guide.
More to Explore
- Angel Jewelry
- Animal Shape Jewelry
- Bird Design Jewelry
- Butterfly Jewelry
- Cat Design Jewelry
- Christmas Jewelry
- Christmas Tree Jewelry
- Clover Shaped Jewelry
- Cross Jewelry
- Custom Jewelry Designs
- Disney Character Jewelry
- Dog Design Jewelry
- Fish Design Jewelry
- Flower Design Jewelry
- Halloween Design Jewelry
- Heart Shaped Jewelry
- Holiday Design Jewelry
- Horse Design Jewelry
- Jewish Star Jewelry
- Monogrammed Jewelry
- Religious Jewelry
- Smiley Face Jewelry
- Star Shape Jewelry Designs
- St. Patrick's Day Jewelry
- Tweety Bird Jewelry
- Valentines Day Jewelry
- jewelry designers
- Bracelets
- Earrings
- Necklaces
- Rings
- Watches
- Jewelry by Metals
- Jewelry by Stones
- Jewelry Network
- Jewelry Guide
- About Jewelry
- Jewelry Stores
- Jewelry Wholesalers
- Jewelry News
- Custom Jewelry Designs
- Jewelry Designers
Welcome to the jewelry design section of the Apparel Search Jewelry Guide. This section is not actually a guide to help you design jewelry. These pages are for you to research jewelry based on a specific design type. For example, jewelry with holiday motifs, heart shaped jewelry etc.
Time to review the most popular designs.
In the above section you will learn about special designs. If you are looking to learn about actual designers, you may want to check the jewelry designers page for more information.
If you enjoy learning about jewelry design you may also find the following sections of our guide to be helpful.
BraceletsIf you wish to shop you may want to check out the Jewelry Store page (Amazon).
Design Is Meaning Made Visible
The guides collected here share one premise: a jewelry motif is a small piece of communication. A clover says luck, a cross says faith, a cat says a particular cat. That is why this section is organized by subject rather than by jewelry type, the reverse of the bracelets and earrings sections, and why each guide spends as long on symbolism and occasions as on metals and construction.
Readers choosing a piece can work from either direction: from the jewelry guides, where a bracelet or earring type links onward to the designs it carries well, or from here, where a motif links to the forms that display it best. The designers guide closes the section with the people who turn motifs into metal, and the custom designs guide with the process of commissioning a motif no shop carries, your own.
Common Questions
How is the jewelry design guide organized?
By motif: animals, symbols, flowers, religious designs, characters, holidays and custom work. Each motif has its own guide covering its symbolism, the jewelry forms it suits, materials and gift occasions, and the guides cross-reference one another where motifs overlap, as horses do with animal jewelry and crosses with religious jewelry.
What are the most popular jewelry motifs?
Hearts are the best-selling motif in jewelry overall, followed by crosses, flowers, butterflies and stars. Animal motifs are chosen by the wearer's own animal, and holiday motifs dominate seasonal jewelry, led by the Christmas tree. Motif choice is usually meaning choice: the symbol says what the piece is for.
Where do I start with a custom design?
Start with the custom jewelry designs guide in this section, which walks through consultation, sketches and CAD, models, casting and setting, timelines and costs. The jewelry designers guide then covers choosing the designer or studio whose existing work matches the piece you have in mind.