Winning Formula

Winning Formula

A newspaper that puts a possible day in the future of data and football in your hands.

DESIGN FICTIONFORESIGHTFUTURES DESIGNMARKETING/COMMSVISUAL DESIGNVISUAL PRODUCTIONWORKSHOP NEWSPAPER
Two pages from Winning Formula a Design Fiction newspaper from a possible future of sport.
A newspaper as an artifact from a possible future implying the kind of change that has taken place in the wolrld and presenting it in a humble and mundane form, as if we were actually in that world.

Project Summary

A Newspaper from a possible future of sports! How did we get this? Well, we got into the Near Future Laboratory's new used, slightly wobbily time machine and went to a possible future of sports. Found ourselves at an Off Track Betting Parlor, in a back alley with a gruff bookie, watching degenerates pull their hair out yelling at the crooked dog race trainers, and pondering who has the better algorithmic assistant for prognosticating the outcomes of the World Cup — and we brought back a newspaper.

Winning Formula touches on more easily seen aspects of performance analytics, and new ways to depict and consume football in media. It also explores future possibilities hiding just below the surface, possible phenomena such as data manipulation as a kind of doping, the impacts of high-frequency sport betting, or politics related to data-based services like media, measurement and reporting.

Client: Manchester UK, National Football Museum

Client URL: https://www.nationalfootballmuseum.com/

Team: Near Future Laboratory, Changeist/Scott Smith

Project Year: 2014

Event On: Mar 1, 2014

Published On: Jan 21, 2024, 12:18

Updated On: Jul 3, 2024, 13:08

Written By: Julian Bleecker

Project Semantic Tags ARCHETYPEARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCEDESIGN FICTIONFUTURE OF XNEWSPAPER

The Project

A Newspaper created for The Museum of Football in Manchester, UK to celebrate the museum's opening and to represent the way Big Data, Algorithms, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Betting might shape a possible future of sports.

The Outcomes

This project successfully represented the value of Design Fiction as a heuristic for imagining possibility. The newspaper itself is a grounded tapestry through which can be woven imagery of things other than they are, and things as they could possibly be given a set of questions and considerations: Big Data; Sports; Betting; Simulation may possibly look like 'this.'\n\nThe newspaper served a useful and creative purpose to support the opening of the Museum of Football. It provided an engaging and vivid depiction of a world in which sports, data, simulation, AI, and entertainment have followed a curious trajectory. The engagement helped bring notice to the museum opening, and reflected a forward-thinking perspective without being opinionated. Rather, the newspaper was an entertaining, thoughtful conversation starter.

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Winning Formula a Design Fiction newspaper from the future in the hands of some construction workers
Winning Formula isn't a concept or report — it's an artifact that feels like it's come from a possible future..or an adjacent now
Winning Formula a Design Fiction newspaper from the future in the hands of some construction workers
Thousands of copies were put into the evening newspaper in Manchester and given away at the museum's opening.

The Question(s)

Question: How will the so-called beautiful game of global football be different in a world where sport itself, and the culture of the fans who love it, is altered by the rush of data, quantification, analytics and digital delivery?

Question: What might a high-stakes match of the near future be like when every move is measured, and every tactic forecast by silicon?

Question: What will the technologically savvy supporter and the lifelong fan alike experience differently when Big Data takes on the game?

The Brief

Consider these questions.

Now, travel into these futures.

Have a look around.

Find a newspaper.

Grab the sports section.

Now come back to the present.

Now, create the newspaper that will help us appreciate and see the implications of these trends and possibilities in sports.

A Design Fiction workshop creating a newspaper from a possible future of sports where Big Data, Simulation, and Analytics determine outcomes, not action on the pitch.
A headline clipping from Winning Formula, a Design Fiction newspaper made from a possible future of sports where analytics, Big Data, and simulation help determine outcomes and probabilities.

The Process

We approached this project by exploring the emerging cultural and technological trends. Then we had ideation sessions and workshops while observing the kinds of stories that appear in a traditional sports newspaper. Subsequent to this we developed parallel stories — from reportage of events, personalities, scandals, matches and so on — that made an issue of the newspaper seem whole, and familiar.

We worked to create the vividness and character of a newspaper through visual design using excessive typography to make the newspaper “shout” with enthusiasm and love for sport. We created drama, intrigue and conflict — ‘Men vs. The Machine’ is the lead headline, and presented a journalistic view of the possibilities implied. We also included advertisements and other elements that help build the full range of this world’s culture and entertainment.

We pulled some assets for ads from previous projects, creating a curious larger world between projects and clients. Finally, the mechanical design and flatplan was performed in a typical 3 column newspaper layout, and the document was made print ready in time for the museum’s opening. We also managed to have Winning Formula included int he evening edition of the local Manchester newspaper.

A Design Fiction workshop creating a newspaper from a possible future of sports where Big Data, Simulation, and Analytics determine outcomes, not action on the pitch.
A Design Fiction workshop working the flatplan for a newspaper from a possible future of sports.

Outcomes

The newspaper served a useful and creative purpose to suppor tthe opening of the Museum of Football

Excerpts

Big Data

Big Data Becomes Big Investor in Football
Big Data Becomes Big Investor in Football

High Frequency Betting

High Frequency Betting
High Frequency Betting

The Molecular Football™ Algorithm Automatically Produces Snapshots of Systems and Micro-Tactics

A clipping from a newspaper from the future describing how The Molecular Football™ Algorithm Automatically Produces Snapshots of Systems and Micro-Tactics
The Molecular Football™ Algorithm Automatically Produces Snapshots of Systems and Micro-Tactics

Data Manipulation is the new Form of Doping in the world of Big Data and Sports Simulation

A clipping from a newspaper from the future describing how Data Manipulation is the new Form of Doping in the world of Big Data and Sports Simulation
Data Manipulation is the new Form of Doping in the world of Big Data and Sports Simulation

24 pages printed in Tabloid format on standard newsprint paper.

A spread from Winning Formula, the Design Fiction newspaper from a possible future of sports
A spread from Winning Formula, the Design Fiction newspaper from a possible future of sports
A spread from Winning Formula, the Design Fiction newspaper from a possible future of sports
A spread from Winning Formula, the Design Fiction newspaper from a possible future of sports
A spread from Winning Formula, the Design Fiction newspaper from a possible future of sports
A spread from Winning Formula, the Design Fiction newspaper from a possible future of sports
A spread from Winning Formula, the Design Fiction newspaper from a possible future of sports
A spread from Winning Formula, the Design Fiction newspaper from a possible future of sports
A spread from Winning Formula, the Design Fiction newspaper from a possible future of sports
A spread from Winning Formula, the Design Fiction newspaper from a possible future of sports
A spread from Winning Formula, the Design Fiction newspaper from a possible future of sports
A spread from Winning Formula, the Design Fiction newspaper from a possible future of sports
A spread from Winning Formula, the Design Fiction newspaper from a possible future of sports
Assignment worksheet for Winning Formula, the Design Fiction newspaper from a possible future of sports
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