Play the System

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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Under the motto “Hands on Tools,” each group of students develops a workshop for another group to delve deeper into the topic. The result is five assignments, each exploring the working methods of contemporary designers.

Inspired by the work of designers Anja Kaiser and Andrea Tinnes, the Layer It workshop explores the creative potential of layering. A series of graphic sheets is created based on a nine-grid system, designed in black and white and with a strong focus on composition and the interaction of shapes. These sheets can be combined in both a digital and analog manner, forming a growing pool of visual elements that can be recomposed and reused at any time.

The goal is not to produce a final image, but to engage in an open, experimental process that celebrates the richness of layering. The workflow is intentionally intuitive and intended to inspire design, not limit it.