The illuminated sign at the new Yankee Stadium
The seats of the old Yankee Stadium were hard, the floors sticky, and the way-finding signs confusing, but it was the perfect place to watch baseball, drink a cold one, and munch on deep-fried savories. The new Yankee stadium, however, like most retro stadiums, bears the burden of being faux, a recreation, like a Disney version of reality. It works and it doesn’t.
Gate 4 leads into the Coliseum-esque stadium
The spanking new stone face and massive arches, suggesting the Roman Coliseum, makes this manufactured vintage-styled monumentality feel too fresh, too approximate. Over Gate 4 the Yankee Stadium inscription in large Roman capitals is too crisp, gold and shinny. The eagle medallions, reproductions of the original ones that hung on the 1923 stadium, on either side of these letters are too pristine. The New York design firm C&G Partners, responsible for creating all the graphics, developed an enviable and ambitious sign and display system — twelve murals, 3,000 signs throughout the stadium, a scale model of the stadium, and a locker that visitors can personalize — but unlike the original stadium, where the few permanent displays were more or less tacked on, there is, for me, a sense that this is all too perfect, too designed. You might say, the house that Ruth built was a ballpark, this is an exhibition hall.
Environmental graphic design is supposed to make user experiences more pleasurable. And this system does. But must it to be so corporate? The Yankee “brand” has long been a positive experience. And like Bombers’ classic pinstripe uniforms that have eschewed the tacky, late twentieth century players names emblazoned on the back above the number, the Yanks are ten times more sophisticated than all other teams. The new graphics are indeed quite elegant yet possibly at the expense of the grit that is baseball — at least in the way I want to experience the game.
Is it just me? What’s wrong with cleaning up and making better the visual attributes of Yankee stadium? I asked Keith Helmetag, the C & G partner designer who led the four person graphic design team, what motivated his signs, architectural design, museum and retail graphics. First off, he calls this three-year (and ongoing) design process “the project of a lifetime” and although he admits to not being a baseball fan when he began, he’s now steeped in the lore and traditions. He has become a devoted Yankee and began the project with the realization that baseball is more than a game, it’s a spectacle: “Today, there are more night games which add drama. A contemporary sound system amplifies the pitch. The presence of screens (from jumbo to telephone) creates close-up to wide angle vantage points that makes watching a contemporary game cinematic and visually layered,” he says. So the environmental graphic flourishes are designed to underscore the idea of legacy and heighten the sense of monumentalism. “Unlike any other franchise, the Yankees fit the uniform of legacy and monumentality naturally,” he adds. “At the Stadium, presentation of legacy can be direct and unfettered with explanation, because the fans know the history, stats and facts.”
Above: signage and displays designed by C&G Partners
Branding often involves inventing legacies. So how faithful is this historical recreation? According to Helmetag the new Yankee Stadium lettering is based on 1923 archival photographs and architectural drawings that embrace the past, “but are expressed with contemporary lighting, materials and manner.” And about the air of authenticity, he adds “Most of the murals and exhibits were developed by using baseball “filters” — Most Valuable Players, World Championships, etc. Legendary past and current players immediately become intertwined. Old and new are always timelessly joined by a winning tradition.” But more to the point, Helmetag, who is still working on the museum portion of the stadium, says the signs, murals and exhibits are designed to “protect” the various Yankee brands — the interlocking NY, "hat & bat" and script as well as the dark blue, grey and white — while giving the fans a visceral documentary experience they did not have in the old stadium.
The new stadium graphics do a fine job of branding the team and all it represents. The signs and banners provide visual consistency throughout the environment as never before at the old stadium. The design scheme does not over-power, but serves the essential goals of informing and way-finding. What could be wrong with that? Yet as I sit in a much comfier seat than in the old park, the soles of my shoes free of sticky soft-drink residue, I have a nagging discomfort — something is wrong. There are too many offerings. I don’t want to feel like I’m attending a corporate conference center. I don’t want a high tech experience. Frankly, I don’t mind getting lost looking for my seat. I’m not as happy here. I miss the house that Ruth built and all its quirky design imperfections. If I were Steinbrenner I’d have gone all the way with the retro idea and brought it back to the days before the corporate brand was more important than the simple joy of watching baseball.
