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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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p385 Transform, Learn, Liberate

Transform, learn, liberate is a systematic guide to building web-based generative design systems with creative coding. Its main goal is to demonstrate how designers can build their own tools and become independent from pre-formatted software dictated by large corporations. The guide, which is divided into transformations, parameters, iterations, and instances, is supported by industry use cases and three generative design systems developed over the course of a year: Type Morpher, Flexible Motion Grid, and Rhythmic Glyphs. Their outputs can be dynamically generated for different applications. All systems can be easily accessed and used through the browser via tll-creativecoding.com.