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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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p295 Radical is the new sexy

Radicalism usually has negative connotations in society and politics—anyone who is radical is not only non-conformist, but also extreme and therefore dangerous. The fear of taking a clear stance and making oneself vulnerable is, therefore, great. So at a time when the biggest social and ecological crises need to be tackled, there is a great deal of jumping around, shifting responsibility back and forth, and making vague statements. Those who call for urgent change and concrete action are labelled as hysterical and extreme. But a world with radical problems needs radical answers. In art and philosophy, radicalism is necessary, almost a prerequisite for productive debate. Radical attitudes also play an important role in design. Right now, a new radical wave of design is emerging that is striving for fundamental changes in the design order and questioning the design canon. Here, too, patriarchal hierarchies must be broken down and history rewritten—design must become decolonized, pluralized, and queerfeminist. The aim is to analyze this: What does radical design look like? How does it work? How can it act as a catalyst for change in society as a whole? Let's give radicalism a positive connotation and answer these questions. Let's finally get to the root of social and political problems and create fundamental change. Because radical is the new sexy.