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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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p42 Back to 1969, But Make it Polish

What happens when two generations, two societies, and two completely different political realities collide in a single visual language? The project Back to 1969, but make it Polish combines iconic images from the legendary Woodstock Festival of 1969 with images from the first five Polish Woodstock festivals of the 1990s. This creates a visual dialogue between two historical moments that differ greatly in terms of aesthetics, culture, and politics. Woodstock 1969 was a symbol of freedom, protest, and the spirit of the hippie movement. Twenty-six years later, in 1995, the Woodstock Festival experienced a rebirth in Poland, but in a completely different context—after the fall of communism, thousands of young people gathered to discuss issues such as freedom and identity, but under the new conditions of a post-communist society. The images from 1969, often characterized by idealism, togetherness, and a strong sense of hope for a better world, contrast with the Polish Woodstock images of the 1990s, which are shaped by a generation that is just discovering freedom. The collages become not only a visual experiment showing how the ideals of freedom, protest, and community have changed over time, but also a platform for exploring the Polish music scene. The project connects the past and present of the Woodstock movement. It becomes clear how the struggle for freedom and social change takes different forms depending on time and place—and yet is united by a common longing.