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 /

p115 Course Catalog 2011/12

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The publishing tool Curriculum makes that the entire process—from data entry to design and even typographic detail—is built parametrically. This allows course information to be entered in a structured way, automatically linked to layout specifications, and exported as InDesign-compatible formatted text. In this way, data management and design development are seamlessly integrated. The formatting definitions remain flexible and can be adjusted independently of the database. Each semester, this enables the creation of a new visual concept with minimal effort and maximum creative freedom—parametric design at its finest!

In designing the 2011/2012 course catalog, the students place particular emphasis on clarity and quick access to all groups of information. The back cover of the Swiss brochure is folded into a leporello displaying the weekly schedule—an overview of all courses offered during the semester, organized by weekday and time. This allows the course listings and weekly schedule to be viewed simultaneously when selecting classes. Lightly tinted pages clearly distinguish the overarching curricula of the individual programs from the semester-specific information.