america's game: the presidential primaries

America’s Game

Contents11 Process19 Design Layout34 Elevations58 Lighting & Acoustics64 Model

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Introduction

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.

Concept

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.

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America’s Game April 2008Washington University in St. LouisOne Brookings Drive

Elevation The Scoreboard 1”=1’

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Process

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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, drive-through 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.

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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.

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 media-centered 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.”

Design Layout

Game Section Title ITC Officina Sans Bold 504 pt

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PRIMARY Voters participate in primaries

Caucus

A caucus involves several rounds of meetings to choose delegates to a next round of meetings based on

Touch the dots, Where the convention was held

Section Subtitle ITC Officina Sans Bold 168 pt

Section Running Text Century Oldstyle Regular 96 pt

Running Text ITC Officina Sans Bold and Book 51 pt

Captions ITC Officina Sans Book 24 pt

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Color and Materials C 0 M 93 Y 91 K 0

C 100 M 90 Y 10 K 0

C 67 M 61 Y 60 K 47

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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.

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Floor plan

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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.

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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

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The DugoutGlass case containing signed baseballs by past primary process participants.

Running text printed on baseball bats

Glass case which displays “team shirts” for Republicans and Democrats. Also displays baseball cards of past important figures in both parties

Elevation The DugoutThe Dugout Overhead View

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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.

The Dugout

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Elevation The Dugout

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Elevation The Game

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The Game Overhead View

Glass case containing ballots

Images of voting site signs

Two maps that describe which states hold caucuses and which states hold primary elections

LCD screen that shows animations of how primary elections and caucuses work

The Game

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“The Game” is more didactic than other sections because the most important informa-tion 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.

The Game

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Elevation The Game

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StoryboardAnimation storyboard that explains how the caucus works.

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Elevation The Scoreboard

Bags of popcorn reveal how many delegates by states are allotted for each party

Scoreboard shows an example delegates allocation for the 2004 election

The Scoreboard

The Scoreboard Overhead View

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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.

The Scoreboard

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Images on chain-link mimic structure of the timeline

Stars represent a primary or caucus held that day by different states

The Innings

Elevation The InningsThe Innings Overhead View

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Elevation The Innings

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.

The Innings

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Elevation Sliding Home

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Grid of televisions

Screen that interacts with televisions

Sliding Home

Sliding Home Overhead View

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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.

Sliding Home

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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.

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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.

Acoustics

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Entrance with scaled figure

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aerial view

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t72 the dugout the game

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home plate

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perspective view

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Conc

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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.

Relevance

america's game: the presidential primaries

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