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 /

p4 5×5

DE
EN

The project 5×5 is a visual audio diary. The superimposition of spoken sequences creates an abstract sound work with graphic elements. The combination of image and sound creates a new atmosphere—a ‘sound’ of a moment in our everyday life. The focus is on the documentation of a day through sound recordings according to five fixed rules. The day is divided into five parts: Morning, late Morning, Midday, Afternoon, and Evening. Each of these sections results in a recorded audio track. For further processing, the sound recordings are shortened to exactly five seconds and then processed with five different effects. For each alienated audio track, five different close-ups are created using the zoom function and a screenshot. The result of five audio tracks with five screenshots each is 25 visualizations. The project aimed to analyze the different daily routines and to find an exciting visual representation for the spoken texts. As a final product, the alienated audio tracks and visual experiments were combined into abstract animations.