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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Play the System Projects /

p219 Layer It!

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In Layer it the students explored the many possibilities of layering. Inspired by the work of designers Anja Kaiser and Andrea Tinnes, they explored the composition and layering of shapes, typography, and patterns. Seeing this design technique as a creative tool, they investigate how versatile it is and what needs to be taken into account. Based on Andrea Tinnes' Library of Shapes, Texts, and Structures, an archive of various materials that the designer can access for design and inspiration, they have created and combined a variety of layers themselves. The aim is to explore the possibilities of such a collection and how this approach can be applied to poster design. The research focuses on the question of what specifications and parameters are necessary for the design and how this affects the aesthetics and expression of the posters.