/

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.

Press F to search
Play the System / Projects /

p31 A Question of Form

Author

Rebecca Schmidtke

Year

2018

Course

Supervision

Design Disciplines

[Interaction Design] [Typography] [Editorial Design]

Mediums

[Digital] [Website] [Analog] [Book]

Technologies

[Adobe InDesign] [Dreamweaver]

Subjects

[Archive] [Design History] [Design Theory] [Web to Print]

Persons

[Max Bill] [Hans Peter Willberg]

A question of form is a digital collection of texts by and about Max Bill. A fictitious interview is used to present Max Bill's diverse areas of activity as a designer, typographer, artist, and architect. All the source texts used for the interview are available as PDF files on the website's digital archive. These texts can be read in a linear format to delve deeper into the individual topics or for further research—either on your own screen or printed out on paper, depending on your preference. This project focused in particular on the different types of reading according to Hans Peter Willberg.1 The website was designed for both linear and informational reading.

  1. Willberg, Hans Peter. Lesetypografie. 4th expanded ed. Mainz: Verlag Hermann Schmidt, 2005. ↩