America’s Game
America’s Game
Contents 11 19 34 58 64
Process Design Layout Elevations Lighting & Acoustics Model
Concept Making of America’s Game 6
Introduction
Concept
This exhibition describes the primary and caucus election processes through the metaphor of a baseball game. As the viewer walks the bases, he or she learns who is involved, what the primary and caucus processes involve, how a candidate wins a primary or caucus, and when these elections occur. The viewer will also learn why this process as a whole is important.
Metaphor The choice to use the metaphor of a baseball game was based on several factors. Baseball is the all-American game and by comparing it to the primary election process, it brings to light the ‘game-like’ qualities of American politics. The comparison divides up the complex process and individual components of the primaries and puts them into familiar, understandable terms. Audience In general, the audience needs to have a general understanding of the rules of baseball, but an understanding of American politics is not. Age range: 9 years and up. Goal topic – to educate the American public about the primary and caucus election process concept – to use the familiar concept of baseball in order to explain the unfamiliar process of primaries and caucuses Style The exhibition style is scenographic. The materials in the exhibit mimic those of an actual baseball field. The viewer enters in the dugout and moves around the bases as a baseball player would and then exits at home base.
Process Making of America’s Game 8
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
The Scoreboard
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
Process
Process Making of America’s Game 12
The project began with discussion of topic—what could we try to explain to a large audience? Our first ideas included a cow’s digestive system, the history of Keds, drivethrough theaters, the history of contraception, and Michael Jackson. A prominent topic in the media at the time of this project’s making was the 2008 presidential primaries and the close democratic race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Our conversations about this race led us to determine the American primary election process as our topic because although we were all interested in it, none of us really understood its inner workings. Researching the primaries proved that it was
complicated and we would have to do a lot of visual explaining to make the information clear. We began brainstorming and collecting images and resources to form an idea. In doing all of our research, we came up with a wealth of information that we had to pare down. We needed a way to tell the story of the complicated primaries. Among many ideas, we thought of comparing it to a game, a corn maze, a high school prom, or a barrage of cameras and lights. Most importantly, we wanted to relate the primaries to something people commonly understood.
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
The Scoreboard
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
Process Making of America’s Game 14
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
The Scoreboard
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
Process
We arrived at a palette of bright colors, a strong suggestion of a baseball field, and an array of images that set the tone of a mediacentered primary election. The photographs also showed viewers specific voting stations and candidates. The exhibition leads a visitor from the dugout, where he or she is introduced to the “players,” or candidates, and led to learn about how primaries and caucuses work through other metaphors like the “scoreboard,” or “sliding home.”
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Making of America’s Game
After a lot of deliberation, we arrived at baseball as a theme. The metaphor would work because the primaries are much like a game, with players, winners, losers, and a set of rules. Baseball is a simple and well-known sport that in this context, invites people to draw comparisons between the game and the primary process. Experimentation began with type samples, sketches, and a preliminary model. The early type experimentations proved to be too conservative. The color palette was quiet, and nothing in our sketches constructed a strong hierarchy. Our model showed us that our space was limited, and dividing it up too much would only make it cramped.
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
The Scoreboard
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
Design Layout
20
Making of America’s Game
Design Layout
Game Section Title ITC Officina Sans Bold 504 pt
Design layout Making of America’s Game
PRIMARY
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Section Subtitle ITC Officina Sans Bold 168 pt
Voters participate in primaries Section Running Text Century Oldstyle Regular 96 pt
Caucus A caucus involves several rounds of meetings to choose delegates to a next round of meetings based on Running Text ITC Officina Sans Bold and Book 51 pt
Touch the dots, Where the convention was held Captions ITC Officina Sans Book 24 pt
Design Layout Making of America’s Game
Color and Materials A limited color palette was chosen in order for the coding of red for Republicans and blue for Democrats to be the most evident. The materials needed for this project are wood paneling, cement, turf grass, walking track turf, scaffolding, chain link fence, and plexiglas panels.
C 0 M 93 Y 91 K 0
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C 100 M 90 Y 10 K 0
C 67 M 61 Y 60 K 47
Design Layout Making of America’s Game 26
Floor plan The exhibition is divided into five main components: The Dugout, introduces the parties that participate in the primary election, Republicans and Democrats; The Game, which explains the difference between caucuses and primary elections and how each system works; The Scoreboard, which defines delegate and superdelegate, which explains how each party handles the distribution of delegates; The Innings, which describes the events that occur during the primary season from the Iowa caucus to the national convention; and Sliding Home, which explains that the national convention marks the end of the primary season.
Process Making of America’s Game 28
Left Spatial of floor and ceiling Right Floor Elevation Far Right Ceiling Elevation
In order from left The Dugout, The Game, The Scoreboard, The Innings, and Sliding Home
Design Layout Making of America’s Game 32
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
The Scoreboard
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
Elevations
Elevations
The Dugout
Making of America’s Game
Glass case containing signed baseballs by past primary process participants. Running text printed on baseball bats
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Glass case which displays “team shirts” for Republicans and Democrats. Also displays baseball cards of past important figures in both parties
The Dugout Overhead View
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
The Dugout
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
Elevations Making of America’s Game 38
The Dugout There are sections of the Dugout that create their own typographic idiosyncrasies: the baseball cards and signed baseballs create their own typographic systems. Upon entering the exhibit through a chain link fence, the viewer will see on her left a wall of signed baseballs by past participants in “America’s Game,” the primary process. Balls with red stitching will be for those candidates running for the Republican vote, baseballs with blue stitching represent candidates running for the Democratic vote. On the wall to the viewers right, the word Players will be burnt into the wood above four large-scale baseball bats which describe the issues which the candidates wish to hit out of the park.
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
The Dugout
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
Elevations
The Game
Making of America’s Game
Glass case containing ballots Images of voting site signs Two maps that describe which states hold caucuses and which states hold primary elections
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LCD screen that shows animations of how primary elections and caucuses work
The Game Overhead View
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
The Game
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
“The Game” is more didactic than other sections because the most important information must be presented as clearly as possible. Two maps are included in The Game. Two animations explain the complicated caucus system and compare it to the ease of primary elections. An inset of a stack of ballots gives viewers a big-picture view of the complexities and importance of the primary system.
Elevations 42
Making of America’s Game
The Game
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
The Game
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
Elevations Making of America’s Game 44
Storyboard Animation storyboard that explains how the caucus works.
Elevations
The Scoreboard
Making of America’s Game
Bags of popcorn reveal how many delegates by states are allotted for each party
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Scoreboard shows an example delegates allocation for the 2004 election
The Scoreboard Overhead View
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
The Scoreboard
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
The scoreboard section teaches the viewer how delegates are distributed between candidates in either party. It visually shows the viewer the difference between the Democratic “split” delegates and the Republican “winner takes all” method. Also, bags of multicolored popcorn to show the viewer the disparity in number of delegates per state. A state like Texas or California will be nearly overflowing with popcorn, whereas the Dakotas will be nearly empty. From a distance, a viewer will see the title of the exhibit in this section. Underneath that, there will be a oversized scoreboard that rotates information through a history of past primary presidential contests.
Elevations 48
Making of America’s Game
The Scoreboard
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
The Scoreboard
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
Process
The Innings
Making of America’s Game
Images on chain-link mimic structure of the timeline
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Stars represent a primary or caucus held that day by different states
The Innings Overhead View
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
The Innings
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
The photos on the chain-link match the activity on the timeline to give the viewer an impression of the ebb and flow of excitement during primary season.
Elevations 52
Making of America’s Game
The Innings
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
The Innings
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
Elevations
Sliding Home
Making of America’s Game
Grid of televisions
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Screen that interacts with televisions
Sliding Home Overhead View
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
Sliding Home
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
The experience of the national conventions is conveyed by the grid of the televisions. When they are not activated, they operate separately, running loops of previous media coverage silently. The map works with televisions so that when they viewer touches one of the red dots on the map, the televisions act as one unit to run winner acceptance speeches. The sound is also activated and the smaller screen displays the date and location of the selected national convention.
Elevations 56
Making of America’s Game
Sliding Home
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
Sliding Home
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
Lighting & Acoustics
The ambiance of the exhibition resembles that of dusk/sundown. The wall behind the elevation walls is set a foot back so that upward lighting can be used between the walls to shine on the stadium crowd. The stadium lights act as spot lights to illuminate key parts on the walls.
Lighting & Acoustics 60
Making of America’s Game
Lighting
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
The Scoreboard
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
There are two sources of sound in the exhibition. One in “The Game” section and the other in the “Sliding Home” section. Because they are located on opposite sides, the sounds should not conflict.
Lighting & Acoustics 62
Making of America’s Game
Acoustics
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
The Scoreboard
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
Model
Model Making of America’s Game 66
Entrance with scaled figure
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
The Scoreboard
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
aerial view
68 Making of America’s Game
Process
Process Making of America’s Game 70
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
The Scoreboard
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
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the dugout the game
Making of America’s Game
Concept
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the scoreboard
Making of America’s Game
Concept
Model Making of America’s Game 76
home plate
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
The Scoreboard
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
Process Making of America’s Game 78
America’s Game
April 2008 Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive
Elevation
Scale
Issue date
The Scoreboard
1”=1’
4.14.08
Drawing Number
Project Number
1
1
perspective view
80 Making of America’s Game
Concept
Conclusion Making of America’s Game 82
Relevance The primaries mark the beginning of election season. They are important because the outcome of the primaries determines the candidates that will run for president. Despite the significance of the primary process, few Americans actually comprehend how it works. If the viewers have a greater understanding of their role in the election process, then they are more likely to participate. The viewers should leave the exhibition with a better understanding of how the primary/caucus system works, its importance, and its impact on American presidential politics.