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 /

p260 On the Grid

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Hans Zeitzschel's project is a web application that generates typographic SVG graphics based on various parameters. The starting point was an exploration of festivals, grids, and modular fonts, inspired by Jurrian Schrofer's grid-based font systems. This led to the question of how all binary 3×3 grids can be drawn and generated.

With the help of Python scripts, Zeitzschel first experimented with grid graphics, then developed a pixel font, and expanded his system to include color tables extracted from image sets. In this way, letter matrices could be filled not only in black and white, but also with a variety of color sets. In the next step, he integrated additional fonts, shapes such as circles, and three-level matrices, enabling new effects and gray gradations.

He was particularly interested in the question of how different festivals could be represented in terms of color. To this end, he developed separate color sets and posters for each festival, which were designed entirely with code. To simplify the complex work with the scripts, Zeitzschel finally bundled all functions in a web application based on Flask. The interface allows parameters such as text position, color selection, and other design elements to be flexibly adjusted.