After discussing the first project further in class Wednesday, I immediately thought of what I felt was a similar project. I think this may also be where I go with my idea for the first project. Over the summer I went to Copperstown, home of the baseball hall of fame. (Don't worry, this isn't all about sports) I had been there prior and was a little less than impressed. It felt like a fairly dated museum in all honesty. This trip was quite a bit different.
It just happened to be the opening of new exhibit; “One for the Books: Baseball Records and The Stories Behind Them.” If there was ever a change of pace in a museum, it was this. Most of the exhibits in Cooperstown are fairly “normal.” Look it's an object, here is some info. Move and Repeat. The design is fairly minimal and pretty boring.
As you can see from the photos above, this exhibit seems to be changing things. They began using fun typographic treatments not only in the program guide but also in the exhibit itself. It really made for an all encompassing presentation.
And if it wasn't enough to use good design they added a few interactive elements as well. The main was a large tower in the center of the exhibit. Within it was every number and stat a baseball lover could ever hope to investigate in a digital format. The amount of information in this tower could probably fill ten Cooperstowns, but by embracing technology and digital solutions, they have made the information easily accessible. Furthermore, they had small touch screen kiosk that had a trivia game on it. Again using technology wisely.
All in all, I was very impressed with the exhibit. It made to happy to see good design applied to sports in a meaningful way. I look forward to everyone thoughts and I apologize for the bad pics, there was no photography in the exhibit during the first week. You can find links to a little more info about the exhibit here and here.
11 comments:
Would you have any pictures of how it looked before?
Honestly the booklet reminds me of the Harry Potter Daily Prophet Newspaper but more organized and readable. It makes me want to read every single one of those records.
Hopefully I can visit this museum someday.
I especially like the over-emphasis that is placed on hierarchy in these exhibits. Words like "Hits" and "Most" and a number take up half of the page while the names and paragraphs of text are meant to be viewed as secondary information.
Great post by the way. Sports and Design!
This is a great example of content driven design that represents dry statistics in a visually interesting way. Other photos from this exhibit can be found here
It's interesting to compare this to other projects Hadley has produced and note how their work has changed and evolved over time. There used to be a certain look museum exhibits subscribed to, I believe, in order to maintain their authoritarian role. In recent years there's been a shift from the one size-fits-all sterility of museum design to a more engaging and lively setting. Museum directors understand their institutions are competing with other cultural entertainments and that an object joined by the all too familiar small white placard is not always the best solution.
My first impression of this post was that I really liked the typography that the designer came up with for this exhibit. I think it is appropriate yet daring. I think the Baseball Hall of Fame hired a designer that was not afraid to take a risk with their work. I find this very refreshing because so much of the corporate design that I see is "safe." This made me think about whether it would be easier to come up with graphic design for a sports exhibit or an art exhibit? The last art exhibit I saw in Baltimore was the Warhol exhibit at the BMA (http://warhol.artbma.org/). With an event like Warhol, the designers are tied to a particular style. Warhol art calls for a certain style of graphic design, no matter how creative and risky the designers are, they are still tied to a style, because it has to be harmonious with the style of the artist. On the other hand, the baseball exhibit doesn't have a pre-determined style that a designer must abide by. Baseball can work with a serif or a sans serif font. Baseball doesn't require a specific palette of colors. Baseball can be modern or antiqued. In that way, I think it would be much more difficult to come up with a design for an event such as this: the options are endless.
These images reminded me of boxing posters with a more modern flair. I love them.
The Holocaust Museum is one of the most interactive museums I've ever been in and it makes all the difference. It's especially important in a museum showcasing a sport, since not everyone really get into sports.
Thanks for sharing Steve.
I was at the BMA a few months ago for a photography exhibit and started wondering about this very issue; lack of typographic design within the actual exhibit. Matt mentioned the "all too familiar small white placard", which was exactly what was displayed next to the photography. I wondered if, and how much, a more "designed" approach to the artwork information would benefit the exhibit. However I came to the conclusion that adding other graphic design or typographic elements would likely detract from the photography, the real element of intended interest for the exhibit.
That being said, it really all comes down to the subject matter of that which is being displayed in an exhibit. In the case of the Baseball Hall of Fame exhibit, I think the design choices were very well planned and executed due to the heavy amount of text necessary. I particularly love the justification of the text, adding to the overall geometric feel of the design. So well done.
Something about the typography on the card that says "Hits, Most, 7" looks very familiar to me. I feel like I've seen something very similar on an old record label.
I have been to the HOF in Cooperstown as well, and would agree with your assessment. Fairly straightforward, not very dynamic. I mainly just scanned the plaques for my favorite players, that's the only real memory that stands out. It's good to see them doing something more engaging. I'd love to see the interactive elements in action. Was there any multimedia? Video, audio, etc.?
I like the typography and the oversized text. I dont know much about baseball so that's probably why I dont know what the headlines means, but it really got my attention and I might make a trip to go visit it.
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