Fin

Lucky me, my classes and finals are all over!!! i am proud to say that i done much better in this semester than i had recently believed. i just want to say that you really shouldnt stress yourself out when you feel bad about your work because chances are that you are doing much better than you believe. as christmas has grown closer i have been worried about what to ask for, all up untill today. i decided that i need to step up my game in my program and become one of the best. so for christmas i ended up asking for books and supplies all related to my field! if you really love something, you should put your efforts and love all into that one thing.
so my final thoughts about this semester are the following. i have learned that i can do anything i want and all i have to do is step up my game. i have come out of this semester with some awesome work and some awesome friends. i have an amazing girlfriend and everything seems to be wonderful for this christmas break! good luck to everyone and i hope you all have a wonderful break!

Form Project

Recently in principles of form class we have been working on our final projects. These projects were simply outlined as being a hand tool that we completely make ourselves. I am coming near the end of this project and even though I have a ton of work to do the experience has been amazing. I've used plasma cutters, steel grinders, polishing stones and many things that real craftsmen in the real world would use. After a lot of work already it is incredible to see how the pieces of work have transformed. What once was a solid block of wood or a bar of steel has become an elegantly shaped form and a gleaming sliver of metal. Although I will not give out the details of what my tool is I will say that it has been interesting work. Using spring steel and red oak I have composed some pretty interesting forms that I would not have felt I could do earlier. I hope that it will all turn out okay and clearly I have a lot of work to do in the next couple weeks! Wish me luck!

Break

So, as i walked down the lonely road from Dellplain to Crouse i couldn't help but feel distraught at how little people were around. Seeing as how i live in Syracuse i decided not to go stay home for the week because i can just drive home if i need to see anyone and for thanksgiving. I woke up, dropped my girlfriend off in the morning and came to work. besides the lack of human activity it is a beautiful day and i am going to be doing work on some projects and clean my room so hopefully it should be a productive day. I know i should be taking an actual break and do nothing but lounge around and wait for thanksgiving dinner but i feel that if i get a lot of work done now, the upcoming end of the semester will be a lot easier. i am kind of scared for the end, just because i always hate worrying about what grades will be, and also how sad it is going to be to be gone for a full month this time. But, there is still time before that so i wont worry until we get back to school on Monday!

Wrapping it up

so now there is literally around 30 days until winter vacation and legitimately i am so pumped. not only is this a time for holidays and festivities, but we are coming down to the end of the school year and we thankfully get to do our final projects. i have been working on one of them for a couple weeks but due to its content i probably shouldn't post what it is ;) its a big secret of mine. in my screen printing class as well we are wrapping it up and already starting the final project in which each student will get a piece of work from every other student, which means we need to make nearly 30 perfect prints. i am so happy that i only have one final and the rest are all just projects, it really makes things a lot better because that way i have a lot of time to focus on that one big test. the one thing i am worried about however is the second year review. this is when all of the industrial design professors take a look at all of the work we have done throughout the year and evaluate us! sounds exciting right? well anyways I'm going to get back to work so i can do a really good job on all of my projects.

vacation

i totally need what my title implies. a nice long stress free vacation. the work has been piling up, the weather has been progressively getting worse, and my cold still is kicking strong. thankfully we are coming up to a vacation though. I am so excited to have thanksgiving break and not have any stress besides which slice of turkey to choose. unfortunately i need to make this a short post because i am still sick but i will be back weekly now and i wont be missing any more classes or work!

Fall

Hello everyone, I know have been away for quite some time now (almost 2 weeks!) but now I am back in action ready to get excited for Halloween this weekend. Thankfully, these past two weeks have been nothing more than simple work weeks where in most of my classes we are just using the time to work on projects such as our final form project and other various design projects. We now are getting into the full swing of "Twine" in our program and for those of you who don't know what it is, Twine is a big/little system where 4th and 5th years pair up with 2nd and 3rd years to work on collaborative projects outside of the classes and help each other with class work. It really is a great way to get to know others in our field and get help from our peers. The main thing I am excited about however is the fact that soon we get to choose our classes for next year. As of right now I am in:
Principles of Form
Principles of Industrial Design
Technical Graphics
Survey of Film History
Serigraphy (Screen Printing)
For next semester however I want to try and get more into some skill classes that will teach me useful techniques for industrial design. I know one of my classes is a second part to the form class and there is also two more I.D. studios (one being computer processes such as photoshop, indesign and solid works). However there are two other classes that I would like to take outside of those three studios which are Biology and functional sculpture. Also, I still want to take classes in the fields of psychology and other art forms.
Even in my 5 years I do not think there will be enough time to take all the classes I want to take. well either way I cant wait to get into learning new things and I'm excited to see what the rest of the semester plus what next semester has to bring.

Lessons

The previous week has been incredibly hectic for me, and it is so close to being over. For the most part, it's been crazy because I went away for the weekend and haven't been around to do any of my homework. On top of that, life has been becoming more and more difficult as time passes on. But somehow, I still am happier than ever because of all the brilliant little lessons I have been learning from faculty, friends and even people I do not know. I just want to share a few of these to hopefully help others see the positive sides of things as well.

First off, the best thing you can do is to stop thinking only for the benefit of yourself. What I mean is that even though we are all different and special in our own way, it is definitely notable that if we only work to make ourselves happy what good does that do for our community. Part of life is helping others, and if we don't do this, we can not survive as a species. Secondly, nothing is ever bad enough for you to quit or give up. As hard as things get, you must push through it because to be honest, you can do it. I've noticed that most people have little faith in themselves and their work when really others around them put those same people up on a pedestal. We are not alone and there is always someone else out there who knows how you feel.

These are just a few of the many things that have helped me feel better and hopefully for those of you having difficulties, it will do the same.

Class Work

The Images i posted are a selected choice of my work from this year ( none of these are final products, this is just classwork) the last two images are however different, they are my own personal photoshop play that i enjoy and wanted to post!

hope you enjoy!

Sketches

So, the other day a couple other I.D. students and myself came to an amazing realization. We found out that in our Technical Graphics class we can be drawing objects we want instead of boring office supplies that for some reason we have been sticking to. It all started when i brought my homework drawing of my snowboard goggles in and Ben (the form and drawing professor) told me to work on goggles more if it is what interested me. Since then all i have been drawing has been bindings, boots, goggles and other snowboard accessories. I feel like all of us can draw whatever our interests are in the outside world. And to top that off if we get good at designing the things we love, we could easily get out into the job market and land a job designing those exact things.
In our form class I am having just as much positive feelings. Our first major project is due on the nineteenth and it has been so much fun to work on all the different variations of my form in the wood shop. Speaking of the wood shop, we are finally getting things settled in there, and besides a few problems with some of the machines everything has been doing wonderful.
i pretty much have come to the conclusion that i love my major and all of the things we will do in it. Even once we get to the more advanced psychology and research classes i feel like i will still love it. I do believe that this major was made for me and i was made for this major and i would totally suggest it to anyone who loves art and engineering because it is the complete mix!
By the way: if you are in industrial design, love design or even want to try it out, i suggest getting a wacom tablet because i just got mine and it is probably the best tool i will ever have bought. for those of you who don't know the tablet is a way of drawing directly into a computer program which enables you so much more control over your drawings. for those interested look up the name Wacom Intuos 4

Money

So my new problem of the week has become money. Basically i just found out this past weekend that i have a lot less money than i thought. What is even worse than that is how much i am going to need. First of all i am going to need to come up with $400-$600 for the down payment for my house next year. This payment alone is more money than i currently have of my own. Secondly, i just ordered a Wacom tablet (which is a pen tablet on which you can draw directly onto a computer program like Photoshop) and I will need to give my parents $200 for half of it. Finally, our professors decided that we should go and get a designer's kit from the commercial art supply store which will run me another $130. To put it simply, i am going to need to come up with close to a thousand dollars just to get the things that i am really going to need.
However, there is good news. i am pretty much in love with my major and i am completely pumped to go to each class every single day. i just wish that i could have all day to focus on the 3 I.D. classes that really excite me. So I hope everyone else is staying warm and having a good time and i will talk to everyone next week!

Getting into the swing of things

Although i am still sick (and even worse now) i can honestly say that i am finally getting a grip on things in school! i am starting to realize how much i love my program and the people in it! All my fellow second years are turning into family members and all of my professors are turning into very influential people (i don't want to say parents because they are far from that but there is a connection quite similar in the idea that they are leading us to grow to be what is best for us). As each class passes i am beginning to feel like i am really learning where i am heading and where i want to end up in life. Professors like Ben Tew have been informing us what the reality of design in real life is. Although it is scary it does help me understand what i need to accomplish here at SU before i get out into the "real" world. He tells us about how, as a designer, you mostly work in teams, and put in many hours and various other facts like this, which may be scary but i feel like if i put time into it, i can do it.

The main thing i find pretty funny is watching myself grow apart from the rest of the students around me. For once i am actually putting school as my major priority because i really love what i am doing here. i'm not saying that they don't care about school but i sit around at night actually taking time and effort to do my work instead of screwing around for once. Now clearly i'm not a professional adult and i still want to have fun, but i believe that i am just saving that for the weekends and my free days. Basically, all i want to say is if you find something you want to do for the rest of your life, don't let anything else get in the way!

Sick

As you can guess, I am pretty sick. It all started when my friend from the dorm got a cold, and then I knew eventually I would as well. While living in the dorms you notice that if one person gets sick, then everyone does just because of the fact that we are all living together. So, as of Monday I have had the same nose running, throat scratching congested cold. Instead of complaining about how miserable my week has been, I'm going to instead tell you what i have found out to be really helpful. Drink lots of water and orange juice, keep away from milk and coffee because it just adds phlegm to your system, get as much sleep as possible (even though as an art student that is very difficult) and keep yourself motivated. The rest is all up to your immune system. I am not saying these things will make you better right away, but they will help you feel better and get over the cold quicker. Besides the cold my week has been awesome though. I have had the best time in my classes and our industrial design group is finally turning into a family. It's a beautiful beginning of the fall and hopefully I will not be sick that much longer in it!

Paper Camera

Hello everyone! I am very close to wrapping up the second work week and oh boy it couldn't end any sooner. This week has opened my eyes to what the rest of this semester holds for us industrial design students. Seeing as how I only have five different classes total you would think I have a lot of free time, but every class is over two and a half hours long. This gives us lots of time to get work done in class, however, seeing as this is an intense program we still end up with mounds of work to do outside of class. Last night I spent two hours at the screen printing studio just to start my project. Before that however was the most interesting part of my day. For my principles of form class my professor asked us to bring in a hand held tool. Of course I had to try to look good so I brought in my brand new Nikon d5000 camera. So there I was thinking I had this awesome tool and I had everyone beat. But as soon as the professor walked in and told us why we needed to bring them in I was stunned. He wanted us to build a paper replica of our tools, which meant that I had to build a paper model of one of the most complex looking cameras you can imagine. After working on it all class I didn't even put a dent in the amount of work that needed to be done. When I left, he took me aside and said that I can just do the lens instead if I really didn't want to spend my entire weekend working on one thing. I still have the paper camera, but I am done with it and am moving on to the lens instead. the moral behind all of this is that I realized that this year was going to get much more advanced and there will be much less time for other things in my day.

Sophomore year

Hello everyone, my name is Jason Ketcham and I am currently a second year industrial design student. I've lived in Syracuse my whole life but only since I began at S.U. last year did I realize what an amazing place central New York can be. Sure it may be cold and snowy in the winter months, but that is why you should try out something new like skiing or snowboarding, then you may even love the winter like I do. A little bit more about me, I am a twin (my brother is a sophomore as well, but in mechanical engineering), I love the outdoors and I love partaking in physical activities such as snowboarding, hiking and running. Although most of my background in high school is from drawing and painting, I love design (mostly industrial design and graphic design). As an industrial design student i have 156 credits needed to graduate with a degree. therefore, I.D. students have five years to accomplish that. If you are interested in I.D. however, don't let that slow you down, the program is amazing. Furthermore, I didn't go into my major for the money, I do it for the pure joy of making and changing things for the better.

One of the biggest tips I can give to anyone who is worried about their future is don't worry about the money so much. Do what you love and if you become engaged in it enough the money will follow. As for now just enjoy your classes and learn as much as you can.

We are almost done with one full week and I have already loved every bit of my life. Besides the 20 minute bus ride to the warehouse every morning at 9!!!! everything has been going as I expected it to be, the warehouse is a beautiful place and I am glad to call it my home! The professors are everything one would hope for and my fellow peers are just as intrigued by design as I am. I feel as if this will be a good year! So good luck to all!!!

-Jason Ketcham