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 /

p341 Stilvorlagen #9 Upheaval

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Under the title Upheaval, we discuss digital publishing and the changing role of designers. We understand digital publishing in a comprehensive sense—as the publication of relevant content and the design of communicative processes on digital platforms.

Designers have been working digitally for decades—but now something fundamental is changing: the digital world is reaching the traditional print scene. Until now, we have used digital tools to design analog products—books, magazines, newspapers. Today, familiar structures are being shaken up. Large publishing houses are fighting for survival, while small ones are experimenting—with mixed success.

Designing websites, e-books, and digital templates has long been part of everyday life. Digital media challenge us: Do they limit creative expression? Will graphic designers become software developers? What makes these changes exciting—and what do they mean for our self-image?

Our guests were Jeremy Abbett, Constant Dullaart, Thomas Castro, Remco van Bladel, and the “Master Pieces”: Martha Starke, Beathe Kapfenberger, Stephan Kurz, Kris Lüdemann, Dominik Krebs, and Robin Hinsch.