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 /

p414 With DHL into DHM

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The German Historical Museum in Berlin shows both—the (smaller) big brother Wilhelm and the famous world explorer Alexander von Humboldt. Capitalism and colonialism shake hands in the exhibition. What has shaped society over the past 200 years? What are the differences between the periods? How did people interact with each other, with nature, with knowledge of the world, and, not least, with materials? The catalogue is an attempt to visualize two perspectives, mine and theirs. The fold throws the plastic onto the stone. The result is a neo-historical work that compares and relates Humboldt's present to ours: Old, fine lettering, placed axially, reduced to the essential—reading. The objects, however, are packaged, labelled, shipped, and collected. Under the smooth reflection of the wrapping foil, the objects appear matte and porous. A book sealed with a shipping label: the gift can be returned.