Play the System
Information Close

/

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.

DE
EN

Press F to search

Play the System Projects /

p221 Life is an instruction manual

DE
EN

Literature is a game—a game with an infinitely malleable material: language. Design is also a playful process, and every game follows certain rules. Two aspects were decisive for Doro Sthamer when choosing her diploma topic: firstly, she wanted to further deepen her professional specialization in Information typography. Secondly, she was interested in the role of rules in the design process—in particular, how they can make design processes more transparent. What function do rules have in design? Do we need them to be creative? Do they limit us, or do they allow us new freedoms by playing with their boundaries? The novel Life Instruction Manual by French author Georges Perec is based on a complex, partly mathematical set of rules that remain hidden from the reader. You don't need to know this structure to enjoy the idiosyncratic story—but if you do get to grips with the rules, you will discover a new dimension to reading.