Physicalization of Statistical Data
of the Russian Premier League Teams in the 2022/23 Season

Anna Ivashechkina's project of crocheted statistics

was created under the supervision of Tina Berezhnaya

March to September 2023

Sketching, selection and purchase of materials

October 2023 to March 2024

Creating dolls, coaster and legends for them

March to June 2024

Summarizing and formulating perspectives

1 step

Sketching

The doll's body was originally planned to have

19 indicators. Some of them are placed according

to figurative associativity (foot - goal, glove - save), others according to the principle "if there is space, there will be a number".

But in conversation with the supervisor, a number

of shortcomings of the sketch were revealed:

Excessive number of indicators;
Inconsistency between the objects
and the numbers and the numbers plotted
on them;
Difficulty in relating specific numbers to what they show (e.g., how to understand that
the number of spectators is embroidered
on a pant leg);
Disproportionately of the numbers to each other.

March 2023

It was decided to change the sketch by reducing
the number of figures and giving them to parts
of the object that would correspond to the values
by their number or size.

And so much so that there would be no need to embroider the numbers themselves on the object.

Thus began the search for optimal shapes and sizes.

At the same time, colours were selected at once.
The only thing that remained unchanged from the original idea was the pie chart made of hair.

September 2023

Principles of distribution, coding and colouring

Hair - ratio of Russians
and foreigners in the squad

The data selection process involved the calculation

of three indicators:

the total number of players in the team;
players with at least one Russian citizenship;
players who do not have Russian citizenship.

The brown colour was given to Russian players

in the squad, while white was given to foreign players.

The chestnut colour of the yarn looks natural on the toy. A different shade, similar to natural hair colour, would most likely have blended in with the brown. So would black. White is perfect in this regard: it both contrasts and looks appropriate.

The boots remained yellow and red, but the first version was supposed to simply embroider the values on the sole.

After that there was an idea with spikes, the number of which would be equal to the cards. But it turned out to be impossible because of their number (the maximum value is 80 pieces).

Therefore, it was decided to play with another element of shoes - laces. They consist of chains, each of which is equal to a unit of the index.

The boots are the number of cards

Length of gaiters - number of goals

The length of the gaiters also corresponded to the goals scored and conceded, but their colour became not unique for each team, but universal for all.

The white gaiters represent goals scored and the black ones represent goals conceded.

But there was a problem: how exactly to show the number of goals. The first option was one row = one goal. However, the maximum value was 74, i.e. 74 rows. While according to the scheme the total leg length is 54 rows.

Another variant of coding: one crochet = one goal. But with this calculation the gaiters would look more like very short socks.

So an alternative was found. Each goal is equated to five single crochet.

In the process of changing the sketch, the shorts became an indicator of wins and losses - by pant legs, respectively. The scoring systems tried were the same as for the gaiters - by rows, and on the principle

of one match - five single crochet.

In the end it was decided to opt for the piechart. Take the two pants, consisting of 790 crochets, as 100 per cent. Then find the percentage of wins-draws-losses and transfer them to the crochets accordingly.

Initially there was a dilemma about which colours to choose: to make a unique piechart in club colours, or universal designations for all:

green - win, grey - draw, red - defeat.

Shorts - wins/draws/losses

The T-shirts are almost as real

There were almost no values left on the jersey, except

for the number of points in the form of a number

and the coach's name on the back (if the team management changed during the season, the coach

with the highest number of matches played during

the season in all tournaments was chosen).

The remaining numbers were removed.

For some teams (e.g. Spartak, Akhmat, Krasnodar, Ural, Krylya Sovetov, Sochi, Pari NN) individual schemes

of jerseys were developed.

The logos were printed on dense felt.

Injuries and "dry" matches - bandage and goalkeeper's glove. Different coding options were considered

for the bandage, but the optimal one was the gaiter type: one injury = one single crochet. The colour

of the bandage was also chosen by association:

the familiar white bandage.

For the number of games without conceded goals,

the image of a goalkeeper's glove was chosen. After all, "dry" matches are an indicator of the individual statistics of goalkeepers.

There was an option to make a piechart of fingers with the ratio of "dry" matches to games with conceded goals. But the variant where each finger is taken as a separate match turned out to be the most acceptable.

Light grey is quite neutral and can be associated with "dryness".

Hands - injuries and "dry" matches

Eyes - position in the table

The colour of the eyes is not chosen randomly,

but is subdivided like the marks in a league table: the top three, the remaining participants and the clubs relegated to the lower division.

The manufacturer has three eye colours: brown, green and blue.

Blue for the medallists, brown for the eliminated, green for all others.

The logic of this choice is justified by colour theory, where they are arranged in this order (or the reverse,

if you follow the circle).

The resulting coding scheme

2 step

Design and printing of legends

Shape

At first, the idea was to give them literal passports. Then - to make them like a "fan passport" of the 2018 World Cup sample. The penultimate option was Panini cards. They,

as a phenomenon, are quite famous, but do not have

a uniform design.

All the requirements were met by the cards of the football simulator FIFA. On them you can freely place

the characteristics.

The card from FIFA 22 was taken, the positions

of all characteristics were drawn from it.

Classic characteristics were replaced by the necessary ones, and the abbreviations of their names by icons.

It was also important to understand what colours the backgrounds of the cards would be. The same for everyone

or different.

Several options were tried, but in the end it was decided to separate similar eye colours:

gold - medallists, silver - other teams, bronze - eliminated teams.

Background colours

Position

It was necessary to decide on cards size, slope,

and what they would be held with.

The first idea was to use note holders
for notes with footballs in the base. However, later

it was decided to use plastic teeble shades (or menu holders). Printing a test sample showed that the size

of A6 is optimal and the angle relative to the table

is 45 degrees.

crocheting 16 objects

October 2023 to March 2024

Three sheets of insulation with dimensions of 100 x 60 centimetres were used to form three parts: 135 centimetres and two 67 centimetres each. This construction allows the stand to be folded twice, with a total length of 270 cm.

Then the 290 x 100 cm artificial turf was glued onto them with double-sided adhesive tape. After that, the markings were made, according to which the sticks were put up. The legends were placed between them, and the objects themselves were leaned against them.