How-To Archives - Kendra Renee Jewelry

Sometimes it’s best to turn to the experts for advice.

Will Kaufman is a fantastic photographer, graphic designer, and marketing genius. He’s currently working for Newton Marketing in Boston, as well as running his own business, WSK Photography and design. (Check out some of the work in his portfolio!) His photographs and design work range from fine art to commercial – he’s designed for industries from fashion to real estate. Will is an expert in branding, logo design and product promotion. You can see why I asked him for help as I was working on a new logo. He’s full of amazing ideas, so I asked him to write a mini-series of articles as a guest blogger. Here’s his first article, How to Design a Great Logo- Enjoy!

The Man Himself.

“Designing a logo is really difficult! Creating an emblem that embodies every aspect of a brand—its products, personality and personnel—in a clean, clear and even clairvoyant capacity is a function of diligent work. So, the truth is, if you design the perfect logo on your first try, you probably didn’t!

Whenever I try to design a logo I usually think I know what I want before I start. However, through experience I have learned that chasing after the perfect logo from square (or sketch) one, almost never works and is ultimately a waste of time. Here are the steps I follow when taking on this tremendous branding responsibility:

A few of Will's logo designs

1. Research your favorite brands, from jewelry companies to car companies, and figure out what they are doing with their design. Really analyze them. What kind of typography are they using? How are different elements stylized? Heavy or light? Large or small? Organic or synthetic? Dynamic or static? Now you will know more about what you like, and what you don’t like.

2. Now list five to ten individual words that describe your brand. Next, make a list of three to five words for each of your favorite brands’ logos. Make sure to write your brand’s list of descriptors first. You do not want any interference from your favorite logos—you want them to help you find what elements of design correlate with what you think your brand is about.

3. Time for the sketching phase! Grab four or five 8.5×11 pieces of paper and make 20 little boxes on them (4 by 5). You now have 80 or 100 blank slates in front of you… go for it. Really, go for it! With your research in mind, make a minimum of fifty quick sketches. Do not spend more than three minutes per sketch; you can always go back to a specific idea or layout later, and you will. Push yourself to spew as many variations as you can muster—mix and match different fonts, stylizations and layouts.

This logo sucks. Why? Because I did not follow Will's advice. Back to the drawing board!

4. After you have a healthy crop of sketches, you can harvest your favorite looks and feels. If you can’t find more than five different looking designs that you like, then you should sketch more. Study your top five sketches—time to figure out what elements of them you like and sketch another twenty to fifty variations that mix those elements up.

5. We are getting close to the final version now! Find your top three logos from step four and decide witch is the closest to what you want. Choose that design and finalize it. Things to remember while finalizing your design: this emblem should contain the elements that represent the words you found in step two and symbolize what your brand stands for. Also, remember, your logo should be able to carry from a billboard or store sign to a letterhead or seal and still retain its impact on the viewer.

At any rate, the good news is there are millions of terrible logos out there… so, you have a good chance at not creating the worst logo ever 😉 Good luck everyone!

Best,

Will”

People often ask me, “How should I clean this?” It’s a good question, because while sterling silver is a beautiful, affordable metal, it has the unfortunate quality of developing tarnish over time. Luckily I’ve developed a few tricks to clean silver, and I am happy to share.

Let’s start with the easiest case: if the piece you are cleaning is unoxidized (white) and has no pearls or other gems or additions you can clean it with any silver cleaner. This includes any of the methods I will mention below, as well as the jewelry “dips”, ultrasonic cleaners- anything! My personal recommendation is to use Wright’s Silver Cream, which you can buy at hardware stores, department stores, or even grocery stores. This lovely-light-purple cream polish gets everything bright and shiny but is still gentle. It comes with a little sponge that you can use to apply the cream. If your jewelry has hard to reach areas or little corners that tarnish just loves to hide in, you can dip a Q-Tip or even a toothpick in the cream and work it into any cracks or corners.

This stuff is the best.

If you jewelry has pearls, I would recommend regular use of a polishing cloth or polishing wipe. Pearls can get wet- in fact, sometimes it is good for them to get wet- but I only recommend using the Wright’s Cream in extreme cases. The strongest polishing cloth I’ve found is the Sunshine Cloth. This cloth will really get your metal clean, however I would exercise caution when using it on oxidized sterling. It is so strong that it might remove the oxidized finish. If your piece is oxidized, instead I would recommend a Connoisseur’s Cloth or Wipes. Their cloths are gentler and have 2 sides- a cleaning side and a polishing side. The polishing side is great for oxidized sterling because it will not disturb the finish. The wipes are good too- these small disposable cloths are great for a single polish. You can fold them up and work them into small areas.

One last tip- to prevent tarnishing, keep your jewelry in a small sealed ziplock bag. Tarnish happens quickest when silver is exposed to air and humidity, and so by keeping it in a sealed environment you can significantly reduce the need to polish.

Do you have any other tricks to share? Post ’em in the comments section!

This cloth is very soft and provides a very strong polish.

This is a very soft and gentle cloth

Individual use wipes are gentle and easy to use

Business How-To from a Pro: Designing a Logo

How to clean your sterling silver jewelry