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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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p36 A Study of Motion and Motivation

This series of posters explores the possibilities of kinetic typography. How can movement reinforce a message? It also analyzes the effects of pressure to perform on one's own motivation. The results are graphic experiments and should be understood as experimental snapshots. They explore the tension between time and pressure, motivation and creativity. A certain pressure to perform is omnipresent in our world. It can be found in many different areas of life. Almost all of us have felt the psychological pressure of having to meet excessive expectations. Pressure to perform often arises because we are constantly comparing ourselves with others. We always feel that we have to be better than the people around us. And even when we are among the 'best', we are afraid of losing that position. Motivation however is often the other way around. Some people work much more effectively under pressure, others can't cope with the pressure, they become insecure and lose their motivation. It's like a downward spiral: the more pressure, the less motivation. The more pressure, the more self-doubt. It's a societal misconception that extreme pressure pushes people forward. Diamonds are made under pressure. But very, very rarely, much more often, pressure creates corns or hemorrhoids.