Play the System

Play the System
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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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“#hawfightsback—against underfunding!” is the motto of the poster campaign directed against the austerity measures at HAW Hamburg.

The series comprises 218 Riso-printed posters with statements on the situation from a total of 58 participants. In addition, there are 25 handwritten posters that were created during a campaign at the FSR Design Christmas market.

Over the course of the 2023/24 winter semester, a total of 243 different posters were displayed on the walls of the DMI faculty at HAW Hamburg to draw attention to the perceived issue of underfunding and its impact on the student body.

The campaign was documented on the associated Instagram account @hawehrtsich.