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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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The metronome is a true chameleon—originally invented in the 17th century as a mechanical pendulum, it has adapted to every technological invention. It now refers to a mechanical, electronic, and even digital timepiece that uses acoustic impulses to set a constant tempo. It also symbolizes the much-discussed interaction between man and machine: the machine sets the beat and the man reacts. As a rhythm training device, Metronome aims to create a joy of rhythm. The louder and faster you clap or chime along, the denser the graphics become. The metronome is both fun and comforting: the more wildly and imprecisely you play, the more beautiful the images, while the more precise the rhythm, the less interesting the visual events become. Perhaps the theory is true that emotion can only be created by impreciseness.