Yankee Stadium sees a variety of fans, from first time visitors to the diehard Bleacher Creatures, each with their own motives and desires for attending a game. Moreover, attendance at games often feels like a singular experience, with little connection to previous games attended. My goal was to help connect the wide range of fans to their shared role in the story of the Yankees, both at Yankee Stadium and after they’ve left.
The first step was to create an in-stadium app that allowed the fans to check in to their seats & contribute cheers, photos, and other memories, transforming the baseball game into a social object, both past and present. The second aspect created an experience outside of the individual phone screens by utilizing the large public screens of the stadium to highlight loyal attendees, feature fan photos, and even transform fans into stadium-wide info-graphics.
The third portion of the project, featured here, examines the evolution of paper tickets to the screens of our cellular phones, and what that means to the ticket stub. A ticket to Yankee Stadium serves both a utilitarian purpose in allowing a fan access to the stadium, while simultaneously acting as a nostalgic artifact of previous games attended. Not only was I interested in preserving the ticket stub, but also, adding additional elements of utility and whimsy by customizing each ticket to the unique history of the individual fan.
Part 2 of 3
For my final project in Public Interfaces, co-taught by Jake Barton and Ian Curry from Local Projects, I worked to create an engaging public interface for my imaginary client of the New York Yankees. In my previous post, I highlighted the iPhone app aspect of the experience.
But there’s much more to this experience, and where it truly becomes a public interface, in the different ways that Yankees could leverage the data being created and collected by their fans. For instance, photos from today’s game could be displayed on the scoreboard in between innings, providing a comprehensive view of today’s game from all angles of the park.
Moreover, by knowing where fans are sitting, engaging interactive experiences could be created with specific seats. For instance, the Yankees often display the number of HRs a Yankee has hit at home over the course of the season. But rather than just displaying that as a flat number, what if fans in the seats in a player’s HRs could be notified of the significance of their seat, and asked to create an info-graphic with their fellow fans. Similarly, if a player comes to bat who has the furthest HR in the history of the stadium, its one thing to tell the distance, its quite another to actually see exactly where it landed in the stadium.
Part 1 of 3
For my final project in Public Interfaces, co-taught by Jake Barton and Ian Curry from Local Projects, I worked to create an engaging public interface for my imaginary client of the New York Yankees.
After conducting primary research, talking to various fans as well as visiting the stadium for what would be the last game of the season, and a great deal of secondary research on the internet, I identified several key problems with the new Yankee Stadium ::
- Since the move, fans feel a disconnect between the Yankees’ past and their role in it
- Yankee Stadium sees a variety of visitors, from 1st time casual fans to diehard bleacher creatures. They have very different motives and desires as fans.
- Attendance at games often feels like a singular event, unrelated to previous games attended or witnessed through another medium.
With these problems in mind, I identified the following goals ::
- How can both diehard fans and first time visitors feel a connection to the Yankees and their past?
- How can attendance at a game not be viewed as a singular event, but rather, a continuous story between the Yankees and their fans
- How can this story continue after fans have left Yankee Stadium?
At the midterm, I rejected the use of mobile phones, dismissing them as a personal device, rather than a public interface. But as Jake and Ian pointed out, by moving away from mobile phones, I took fans out of their seats and asked them to engage with interfaces on the concourses of the stadium, away from the action. So, for the final, I elected to bring the phone into the system, which would allow a visitor to Yankee Stadium to create a profile and enter the experience by checking into their seat. This video demonstrates the experience in the phone, while subsequent posts will show the larger experience.
Big props to Hoshi Ludwig for his assistance in visual identity/design
As I mentioned in my previous post, there is a bit of a dead space in Babe Ruth Plaza created by the staircase that forks in two directions, sending fans to opposite gates. While a fair amount of people cross through it, I never saw it get anywhere close to packed, as opposed to the areas closer to the gates and between the Subway and Stadium. It serves as a great place for people to wait for the rest of their party, as its emptiness allows people to easily spot each other and gives those who are waiting an elevated viewpoint to the crowd approaching from across the street.
From a humorous standpoint, :19 to :28 features a couple that seems to go through the entire range of a fight, only to kiss and make up, walk off, and be replaced by another couple in the background.
Notice the arches that are illuminated by the scoreboard inside Legends Hall, occasionally transitioning the stadium from Yankee blue to a more ominous red. Could the stadium display the mood of the crowd based on the Yankees performance?
On what would turn out to be the last night of the Yankees’ season, I took the 4 train up to the Bronx to not observe a Yankees game, but rather, observe people going to a Yankee game. While it was difficult to not step foot inside the stadium, it definitely made me focus on parts of the stadium that I never have before.
- The area between the subway and Gate 6 is a disaster. With every train that arrived, this area became more and more crowded with people who seemed to think Gate 6 was the only way in. Nobody considers walking down to other gates, or to pick a better place to meet friends. On top of all that, you have a huge crowd trying to get in to the Hard Rock Care. This would not be a good place for an installation.
- I’ve always been under the impression that the subways are how the majority of fans get to Yankee Stadium. However, in watching the stream of people arriving, I noticed a large amount of people crossing the street from an unknown location. I traced their path back and discovered they were coming from the MTA commuter train. Currently the park around the path is under construction and as a result, its fairly dark and boring. This seemed to be prime scalper territory.
- When these fans cross the street, they end up at a staircase that splits in two directions, pointing them towards either gate 6 or gate 4. The stairs themselves have a really cool LED system that illuminates the stairs from the bottom of the handrails. As it grew darker out, you could continue to see these stairs lit up from all around.
- At the top of the stairs is Babe Ruth Plaza, and because of the way they fork, there’s a bit of a dead area in this area that remains fairly empty, even as the gates become crowded. There seemed to be a lot of people waiting for friends here, allowing them an elevated position to scan for their friends, and an empty area to be spotted (see video).Theres an entire area between Gate 4 & Gate 6 that has the potential to be used for more gates, but currently, they’re closed off. If they’re not using it on a Playoff game night, I can’t imagine they ever do.
- The exterior of the stadium is truly awe-inspiring, reminding me of some of the grand soccer stadiums I have seen in Europe, especially Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium and Barcelona’s Camp Nou. But on the other hand it doesn’t feel like any other baseball stadium I’ve ever been to (28 and counting). I think its the way its so closed off. With every other stadium, you could stand outside and get a pretty good idea that its a baseball park. But in this case, you really could be at a soccer or football stadium.
- The arches on the exterior of the stadium change color based on what’s being displayed on the signage within the Great Hall. 95% of the time its blue, which gives the stadium its blue glow, but occasionally it would switch to red, giving the Stadium an entirely different persona.
- Speaking of the Great Hall, I’m still convinced this is the place for my installation. I could see into the Great Hall from Babe Ruth Plaza, and even as the stadium continued to fill, the Great Hall remained relatively empty, serving only as a transitional space for people getting to their seats. Its the first thing fans see as they enter, and it seems like a place thats ripe for intervention.
Where as the Mets moved out of a studio apartment to an eight bedroom shore house, the Yankees moved from their house where the kids grew up to one three doors down with a remodeled kitchen….The stadium is nice. It’s fine. It doesn’t feel special. I don’t feel the ghosts and I don’t feel the history.
Yankee Stadium
For our Public Interfaces project, we’ve been asked to work within our thesis area. I’ve decided to build a public interface for Yankee Stadium. In doing some initial research, and working off of my past experiences, I’ve identified the following ::
Problem
- While the New Yankee Stadium does a great job of acknowledging the history of the Yankees, it does very little to tie this history back to their fans and their role in it, if only just as witnesses.
- Moreover, Yankee Stadium sees a wide variety of fans, from the diehard bleacher creatures to the casual first time fan. The stadium caters to the casual fans only by attempting to sell them overpriced food and beer, but does little to hook them emotionally and incentivize their return.
- Many fans, especially those from the neighborhood, have been outpriced by the Yankees catering to the luxury crowd.
- Finally, even for the most diehard of fans, attendance at games often feels like a singular event, unrelated to previous games attended or witnessed through another medium.
Solution Direction
- Casual fans need to be made to feel a part of the Yankees tribe. First time fans should feel the same connection to the team, and their fellow fans, as the most diehard of fans.
- Fans should be able to see a piece of themselves in every moment of Yankees history.
- These moments should not be viewed as singular events, but rather, as a continuous story.
- Fans should leave a game with an afterglow
