In this project, I designed a custom silver ring for a close friend who is a big fan of the game Love and Deepspace. The ring is inspired by one of the characters, Rafayel, and the goal was to translate his story, personality, and symbolism into a meaningful piece of jewelry.
To keep the design process clear and repeatable, I followed a simple four-step jewelry design
Category, Keywords, Elements, and Combination.
This structure helps turn abstract inspiration into a concrete, wearable design.
Step 2: Keywords
Next comes keyword research—an essential step for story-driven jewelry design. By studying Rafayel’s images, videos, and background in the game, several strong themes emerge. He has a deep connection to the ocean, tied to where he was born and raised. He is also known as a fish god, making fish a central visual symbol.
Another important detail is his relationship with shells—he uses them as pigments and wears shell necklaces. His representative flower is the Flame Lily, symbolizing “I am willing to burn for you,” and his elemental power is fire.
From this research, the core design keywords become clear:
fish, ocean, shells, Flame lily, and fire.
These are highly visual and specific, which makes them ideal for design work.
Step 3: Elements
With the keywords defined, the next step is gathering reference images and extracting visual elements. Shapes, textures, and forms related to fish, shells, flowers, and flowing ocean lines are analyzed and simplified into usable design components.
Step 4: Combination
The final design phase is combination—experimenting with how different elements work together. Early sketches explored combining fish and Flame Lily motifs, which felt expressive but complex. Further exploration led to a cleaner, more focused direction by combining fish and shell elements, which felt more balanced and visually direct.
At this stage, material choice also becomes crucial. Since the ring is made of silver, using a real shell material—mother of pearl—adds contrast and a focal point, instead of keeping everything silver.
Material Choice: Mother of Pearl
Mother of pearl has a long history in fine jewelry and is widely used by luxury brands. However, white mother of pearl was too close in color to silver for this design. During material research, abalone shell stood out for its iridescent, cool-toned colors, perfectly echoing the ocean theme and adding depth to the ring.
Final Result
The finished ring brings together story, symbolism, material, and craftsmanship into a cohesive design. This project shows how a structured design process can simplify creativity while preserving meaning.
If you’re interested in jewelry design, slow fashion, or creating pieces with emotional depth, this framework can be applied to many kinds of projects—game-inspired or otherwise.
