Play the System
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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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Play the System Courses /

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“Writing is the written image of language, the image of a sound.” (Kurt Schwitters, 1927)
Typography not only preserves and conveys thought—it shapes how we perceive it. Used consciously, it brings language to life and amplifies its meaning.
Avant-garde artists of the early 20th century already sought to dissolve the rigidity of type. They experimented with language, letterforms, and media, turning typography into a living, expressive medium in performances, films, and posters. Their work remains strikingly relevant today and continues to inspire.
In this course, students explore the pioneers of dynamic typography—from Stéphane Mallarmé to Herbert W. Kapitzki, Daniel Wenzel, and Hansje van Halem—and translate language into visual rhythm and sound. The course becomes an experimental laboratory: type is set in motion through systematic studies and design rules, created with HTML, CSS, and analog techniques.
Across four sessions (Grid, Transformation, Poetry, Sound), each student designs digital and printed posters that make typography move—supported by guest experts from literature, performance, and music.