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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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p52 Becoming Ownerless

Some time ago, Niklas Schönemann stumbled across the topic of the so-called ‘ownerlessness’ of swarms of bees in the German Civil Code (BGB): § 961 Loss of ownership of swarms of bees. This deals with the legal classification of various ownership relationships of swarms of bees. According to this, they have the right to separate from their owners and their current location. It is surprising how easily bees can leave their ownership whenever and wherever they want. This very dynamic possibility of being able to choose freedom and independence should be used as a metaphor for design. The idea is to take the legal texts verbatim from the German Civil Code to make them appear irritating. The wild swarm of bees has a primarily visual character and is a symbol of striving for independence and freedom. This raises the question of how far one can take the comparison of ‘ownerless’ swarms of bees with the search for independence. The project is intended to encourage us to move in directions that we find interesting. It should encourage us to leave our ‘masters’—that is, difficulties and insecurities—behind us. Bees should be our role models. They are on the move and encourage us to fly with them. This is even written in the BGB.