Rates & Barrels: A show about Baseball

Rates & Barrels is a show about baseball from The Athletic. The show focuses on fantasy and real baseball, covering all of the biggest stories in and around the game throughout the year from the start of the Hot Stove season, to the final pitch in October. The art direction for the open title was driven by the core concepts of rates, barrels, and baseball, translating data and performance into a visual language. The sequence begins with organ keys moving in sync with the soundtrack, rising and falling to gradually form a bar chart, while individual data points are introduced along the way. As the composition evolves, a shift in the music reveals a new layer: the points themselves are actually constructed from a baseball, tying the abstract data visualization back to the physicality of the sport. This approach not only reinforces the analytical nature of the show but also highlights its strong musical identity, using rhythm and transformation as key storytelling elements.

The art direction for the open title was driven by the core concepts of rates, barrels, and baseball, translating data and performance into a visual language. The sequence begins with organ keys moving in sync with the soundtrack, rising and falling to gradually form a bar chart, while individual data points are introduced along the way. As the composition evolves, a shift in the music reveals a new layer: the points themselves are actually constructed from a baseball, tying the abstract data visualization back to the physicality of the sport. This approach not only reinforces the analytical nature of the show but also highlights its strong musical identity, using rhythm and transformation as key storytelling elements.

Credits:

Client: The Athletic - The New York Times
Production company: BlinkMyBrain
Creative director: Ariel Costa
Art Director: Everton Rios
2D Design and 2D/3D Animation: Everton Rios

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