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is a platform for parametric design in graphic design. It documents the work of students and teachers at the Department of Design at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW), who are investigating the significance of the system as a conceptual model and design method under the title “Parametric Design in Graphic Design.”

Design is less about intuitive, even ingenious “strokes of genius” and more about a holistic and rule-based (systemic and systematic) process of gaining knowledge and shaping form. It is becoming increasingly important to be able to design dynamic systems that both guide and inspire the design process.

Parametric design refers to this design in and of systems—with rules, their modes of operation, and systematic manipulability. The research project, led by Prof. Heike Grebin, is an integral part of teaching and aims to raise awareness of design as a performative process.

Play the System brings together selected study projects in which the system plays an important role as a design method – whether analog or digital. The works are created in a fruitful symbiosis of theory, design, and technology. Socially relevant issues and positions from philosophy, art, and avant-garde design from around 1900 to the present day are repeatedly discussed.

Play the System is an invitation to become aware of the systemic competence of graphic design and to gain the maturity to use the tools of digital design critically.

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c6 Bureau for Design

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The Behörde für Design (Agency for Design) was founded in the 2006/07 winter semester by a group of communication design students led by Prof. Heike Grebin with the aim of breathing new life into the Department of Design at HAW Hamburg. The ten course catalogs from 2007 to 2012 exemplify the concept particularly well: each semester, a new group of students designs a fresh visual identity for the department under the umbrella of the Bureau.

To support this process, FMGarage (Filemakergarage) developed the database publishing tool Curriculum, which enables the structured entry of courses, automatically links content to layout specifications, and generatesformatted text that is compatible with InDesign. The format definitions can be adjusted at any time independently of the database, making it possible to create a new design concept each semester with manageable effort and great creative freedom.