it's hard to believe that I'm almost finished with my last fall semester, and my ninth semester out of ten before graduation. but even with only three more days before I go home it seems impossible how much work is left to do.
thesis has needless to say been the bane of my existence, but I'm really excited with everything I've researched and discovered this semester. I now know that naming inanimate objects can actually be a psychological disorder that people may have, and any type of naming is not only about giving something an identity, but also defining how a person identifies him/herself in relationship to the object. it's been really intimidating putting all of this information together, and I still have no idea what I'll actually be designing next semester for thesis, but I'm glad that my biggest fear was not realized...I am definitely NOT sick of this subject.
danceworks has also reached an exciting point. all of the choreographers are nearly done with their pieces as we leave for winter break, and going along with our airline/travel theme this year we have permission to do our photo shoot for the posters in hancock airport AND on an actual plane. things to look forward to when we return in january.
and finally my website is up and running! it will take some time to get all of my portfolio on it, so don't judge me too harshly!
...enjoy the snow!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
n is for networking
after four years of being in the design department at su we (the 5th years) have begun to fully appreciate the art of networking. I don't think meeting people in the industry and pitching yourself and your work to future potential employers is something I will ever get used to, but fortunately we're getting a fairly informal but great networking opportunity next week. the head of the id department, professor don carr has organized a new lecture series, and the first lecture is to be held next wednesday. we have two very prominent members of the design community coming to speak about "evisioning."
gianfranco zaccai, the ceo and president of design continuum and bill mak, an interaction design professional and entrepreneur. it is always very exciting to hear what other designers have to say about their journey through the industry, and I'm really looking forward to the whole event.
in addition to the lecture there was also another charrette announced that will be taking place the second week of november. again it will be similar to last year's in that there will be multidisciplinary teams working on a project that will be dealing with downtown syracuse. since I wasn't able to participate in the last one I'm excited to have another chance to do so, especially before we get into the product design portion of thesis next semester.
and speaking of thesis, we just finished our mid semester presentations this week and I was relieved to get some positive feedback from the professors. I know I still have a long way to get there but at least I know I'm on the right track. and if you're interested in a taking a survey to help me with my research I'd really appreciate it!
gianfranco zaccai, the ceo and president of design continuum and bill mak, an interaction design professional and entrepreneur. it is always very exciting to hear what other designers have to say about their journey through the industry, and I'm really looking forward to the whole event.
in addition to the lecture there was also another charrette announced that will be taking place the second week of november. again it will be similar to last year's in that there will be multidisciplinary teams working on a project that will be dealing with downtown syracuse. since I wasn't able to participate in the last one I'm excited to have another chance to do so, especially before we get into the product design portion of thesis next semester.
and speaking of thesis, we just finished our mid semester presentations this week and I was relieved to get some positive feedback from the professors. I know I still have a long way to get there but at least I know I'm on the right track. and if you're interested in a taking a survey to help me with my research I'd really appreciate it!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
mid semester...already
it's hard to believe we're already into october. time flies to say the least. this time next year it's scary to think I'll be in a design job (fingers crossed) and not in syracuse.
thesis has officially become the four letter word that past fifth years have told us about. there's just so much information out there and so many interviews each of us wants to conduct it's impossible to see how this will all come together by the end of the semester. as for myself, two interviews, eleven user experiments, ten articles and about twenty books later I can't say that I've come to any conclusions...yet. but I still find the topic exciting. I hope I won't get tired of it before we actually get to the design phase next semester.
besides thesis id is currently holding a date auction as a fundraiser this week (which is really more pure entertainment than anything else) trying to organize a trip to greenbuild in boston in november which is exciting. we're also hoping to get to the new museum of arts and design in manhattan this year. I always love being able to take bus trips and I think it's great that we have the freedom to do that just to get off campus and see what's going on in design.
other than that not much else exciting right now. danceworks auditions on saturday which means early to bed for me on friday. and for a flash of syracuse history check out the new movie "the express" about ernie davis!
thesis has officially become the four letter word that past fifth years have told us about. there's just so much information out there and so many interviews each of us wants to conduct it's impossible to see how this will all come together by the end of the semester. as for myself, two interviews, eleven user experiments, ten articles and about twenty books later I can't say that I've come to any conclusions...yet. but I still find the topic exciting. I hope I won't get tired of it before we actually get to the design phase next semester.
besides thesis id is currently holding a date auction as a fundraiser this week (which is really more pure entertainment than anything else) trying to organize a trip to greenbuild in boston in november which is exciting. we're also hoping to get to the new museum of arts and design in manhattan this year. I always love being able to take bus trips and I think it's great that we have the freedom to do that just to get off campus and see what's going on in design.
other than that not much else exciting right now. danceworks auditions on saturday which means early to bed for me on friday. and for a flash of syracuse history check out the new movie "the express" about ernie davis!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
fifth year
wow. it's hard to believe we've already been back in syracuse for a month already. things have been crazy to say the least between classes and everything else going on this semester. I'll try to catch you up a little.
only a month into classes and thesis has become a four letter word among the 5th years. everyone is getting more and more excited/nervous/anxious about it, but for the most part I think we're all handling it well. after the initial commitment to topics we're now underway in our research and already the amount of information to be found is overwhelming. I personally will be researching how personifying an object with a name impacts the relationship the user or consumer has with it. I'm sure that may sounds confusing, but think about how many people you know who have named their cars. or computers. or cell phones. it's more people than you think, and what I'm interested in is how this changes the connection between person and product.
we've also had some new faculty additions to the industrial design department this year. first, ruth spitzer who is teaching thesis research for the 5ths and human factors for the 3rds, and won kim who is teaching two of the 2nd year classes. they're both extremely talented and it's great to have two more sets of eyes critiquing our work this semester.
besides id I've been plenty busy dancing this semester. after missing last fall from being in london I forgot how much involvement DanceWorks requires first semester. I'm on the board again this year doing graphics which is really fun for me, and it's been great dancing as much as I have been and also hanging out with that group of friends.
I think that's plenty update for now. back to th*sis.
only a month into classes and thesis has become a four letter word among the 5th years. everyone is getting more and more excited/nervous/anxious about it, but for the most part I think we're all handling it well. after the initial commitment to topics we're now underway in our research and already the amount of information to be found is overwhelming. I personally will be researching how personifying an object with a name impacts the relationship the user or consumer has with it. I'm sure that may sounds confusing, but think about how many people you know who have named their cars. or computers. or cell phones. it's more people than you think, and what I'm interested in is how this changes the connection between person and product.
we've also had some new faculty additions to the industrial design department this year. first, ruth spitzer who is teaching thesis research for the 5ths and human factors for the 3rds, and won kim who is teaching two of the 2nd year classes. they're both extremely talented and it's great to have two more sets of eyes critiquing our work this semester.
besides id I've been plenty busy dancing this semester. after missing last fall from being in london I forgot how much involvement DanceWorks requires first semester. I'm on the board again this year doing graphics which is really fun for me, and it's been great dancing as much as I have been and also hanging out with that group of friends.
I think that's plenty update for now. back to th*sis.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
nakid...
There was so much going on all weekend - tons of lectures by professional designers from around the country about the type of work they do, their philosophies on design, and everything else related to Industrial Design. It was a lot of fun and the speakers were great. A really fun talk was Marco Perry from Pensa talking about the curse of knowledge and his team's journey to redesign the Push Pop (next time you're at the grocery store or a drug store be sure to check it out).
Besides having the opportunity to listen to and meet all these successful designers, one of the most exciting parts of the weekend was seeing the Merit Scholar presentations. Every year students compete first at school level, then regional, then national for this prestigious award. The award is given based on the quality of work presented, the way in which it is presented, and how well the student presents or speaks about their work. It's always really interesting to see what kind of work other schools are doing and how our program compares. I'm obviously biased so I won't say how our SU ranks, but let's just say the caliber of our program always generates a lot of positive talk at the conference.
In any case it was a great weekend and I'm definitely looking forward to next year's conference and hopefully presenting my portfolio for the Merit Scholarship.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
charrette...
One thing that I really like about the Industrial Design department here at SU is that we as students (starting second year when you enter the program after foundation) often have opportunities to take part in projects that have real application. There have been sponsored projects in the past by LG and JP Morgan Chase, sometimes our professors will include us in their own projects which can include installations, and most recently we have been doing a lot of work with the Connective Corridor.
The Connective Corridor is a 1.5 mile stretch that goes from the SU campus to downtown. The project began as a movement to connect the university with the city, as well as encourage economic and cultural growth within the city. The ID department has given us projects that range from making the corridor more accessible to people with disabilities to imagining transportation systems that will encourage travel of the corridor, especially during inclement weather.
This week select members of the 3rd year ID class are working on a charrette to develop design proposals for the corridor. A charrette typically is a short period of time of designing to solve a design problem and to meet a deadline. The ID students will be working in teams with students from other majors including Interior Design, Engineering, Architecture and Landscape Architecture. After the charrette is over the teams will present their design proposals to a committee for possible implementation into the city.
Not actually working on the charrette myself I don't know any more of the details, but if you're interested in the project check out the Connective Corridor website:
http://connectivecorridor.syr.edu/
And two side notes:
1) Bill Nye is giving a presentation at SU tonight! For those of you who ever watched him as a kid, you'll understand how excited the geek in me is.
2) If you are in NYC and have a chance go to MoMA to see their exhibit "Design and the Elastic Mind." It's industrial design meets science at its best - an absolutely fascinating show. It's open until May 12th and if you go you can see three projects done by our designer in residence, Susana Soares.
The Connective Corridor is a 1.5 mile stretch that goes from the SU campus to downtown. The project began as a movement to connect the university with the city, as well as encourage economic and cultural growth within the city. The ID department has given us projects that range from making the corridor more accessible to people with disabilities to imagining transportation systems that will encourage travel of the corridor, especially during inclement weather.
This week select members of the 3rd year ID class are working on a charrette to develop design proposals for the corridor. A charrette typically is a short period of time of designing to solve a design problem and to meet a deadline. The ID students will be working in teams with students from other majors including Interior Design, Engineering, Architecture and Landscape Architecture. After the charrette is over the teams will present their design proposals to a committee for possible implementation into the city.
Not actually working on the charrette myself I don't know any more of the details, but if you're interested in the project check out the Connective Corridor website:
http://connectivecorridor.syr.edu/
And two side notes:
1) Bill Nye is giving a presentation at SU tonight! For those of you who ever watched him as a kid, you'll understand how excited the geek in me is.
2) If you are in NYC and have a chance go to MoMA to see their exhibit "Design and the Elastic Mind." It's industrial design meets science at its best - an absolutely fascinating show. It's open until May 12th and if you go you can see three projects done by our designer in residence, Susana Soares.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
superheroes...
This semester the ID department has a new designer in residence, Susana Soares (since our former designer in residence is now a professor). Susana lives in London and it's really great to have her here to gain experience with a different professor and hear her perspective on design.
We were given a short project this month that I really enjoyed. We were asked to design a superhero as well as design FOR the superhero. It was left fairly open ended except we were told to keep in mind issues such as genetic modification and new technologies that will be an integral part of our near future. (Think in terms of movies like Gattaca, Minority Report, The Island, etc.)
The back story for my hero is that, over a hundred years from now, after we as humans have tried to resist climate change with man-made technologies, nature rebells against us and natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis are regular occurances. My hero, Advecta, uses her powers of kinetic sensitivity, weather manipulation, and photographic reflexes to help try and stop disasters as well as aid in disaster relief.
A friend of mine actually posed for the project and I was able to use the images to depict the type of technology she may need in her mission for disaster relief. Here's one image of a flexible, wearable LCD screen that allows her a constant flow of information in terms of internet and images to assess disaster sites and oncoming disasters.
Monday, March 3, 2008
mid semester time...
This weekend was really different from the other weekends this semester, not only because it was the last before spring break, but it was the first that I didn't have DanceWorks rehearsals this semester. We had our annual show last week and it feels good to have all these hours back to get things done and do some fun things on campus.
Last Thursday we were lucky to have Alvin Ailey II, a modern dance company, perform on campus. They actually did a world premiere work commissioned by SU. It was really nice to be able to see them (and only for $5). In general Syracuse brings a lot of performers to the school throughout the year. That's one thing I love about SU, there's always something going on for students on the weekends.
Saturday two of my roommates and I went to see No Country For Old Men at one of the auditoriums on campus as part of University Union (UU). UU gets copies of recently released films to show on campus almost every weekend that students can go see for free without having to go to the mall - another fun thing to do with friends at SU.
And then Sunday was devoted to work and studying - mid semester week means two project reviews and two exams in two days. I'll be happy when Wednesday rolls around.
Happy March,
Jess
Last Thursday we were lucky to have Alvin Ailey II, a modern dance company, perform on campus. They actually did a world premiere work commissioned by SU. It was really nice to be able to see them (and only for $5). In general Syracuse brings a lot of performers to the school throughout the year. That's one thing I love about SU, there's always something going on for students on the weekends.
Saturday two of my roommates and I went to see No Country For Old Men at one of the auditoriums on campus as part of University Union (UU). UU gets copies of recently released films to show on campus almost every weekend that students can go see for free without having to go to the mall - another fun thing to do with friends at SU.
And then Sunday was devoted to work and studying - mid semester week means two project reviews and two exams in two days. I'll be happy when Wednesday rolls around.
Happy March,
Jess
Friday, February 29, 2008
an introduction...
Hi Everyone!
My name is Jessica and I'm a 4th year Industrial/Interaction Design major here at SU. It's been an amazing four years here so far and I'm really looking forward to start working on my thesis in the fall. I'll admit it's a little weird to think that all my friends that came to SU with me freshman year will be graduating in May, but I think all the ID majors here would agree that our program is so great it's worth sticking around for 5th year. (Plus it gives us an extra year to decide what to do with our lives...)
I'm originally from Cheshire, CT (yes, like the cat) and while I will always love it there, I now can consider Syracuse another home. As a senior in high school I wasn't sure about coming to SU, but when I visited the March before I graduated I immediately fell in love with everything it had to offer. For me it was the perfect art program within a strong academic setting, and the sense of community was awesome. It has not only given me a great educational experience but it has given me the best friends I will ever have. Syracuse has become so much more than a school and I'll be sad to leave it next year.
Besides my classes I also try to stay involved on campus. I've been a peer advisor for two years and a TA for a foundation course. I also dance (a lot) and am a member of both DanceWorks and TAP. There's just so much to do on campus all the time it's definitely hard to time manage so I make sure to get all my work done too!
I could go on and on...but maybe later. If you have any questions for me feel free to leave a comment or send an email!
Cheers,
Jess
My name is Jessica and I'm a 4th year Industrial/Interaction Design major here at SU. It's been an amazing four years here so far and I'm really looking forward to start working on my thesis in the fall. I'll admit it's a little weird to think that all my friends that came to SU with me freshman year will be graduating in May, but I think all the ID majors here would agree that our program is so great it's worth sticking around for 5th year. (Plus it gives us an extra year to decide what to do with our lives...)
I'm originally from Cheshire, CT (yes, like the cat) and while I will always love it there, I now can consider Syracuse another home. As a senior in high school I wasn't sure about coming to SU, but when I visited the March before I graduated I immediately fell in love with everything it had to offer. For me it was the perfect art program within a strong academic setting, and the sense of community was awesome. It has not only given me a great educational experience but it has given me the best friends I will ever have. Syracuse has become so much more than a school and I'll be sad to leave it next year.
Besides my classes I also try to stay involved on campus. I've been a peer advisor for two years and a TA for a foundation course. I also dance (a lot) and am a member of both DanceWorks and TAP. There's just so much to do on campus all the time it's definitely hard to time manage so I make sure to get all my work done too!
I could go on and on...but maybe later. If you have any questions for me feel free to leave a comment or send an email!
Cheers,
Jess
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