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 Workshops /

w58 Visual Systems

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From static to flexible systems: an experimental workshop about system design.
“Responsive UI design,” “variable fonts,” “kinetic typography,” “motion design,” “liquid branding,” “dynamic identities,” and “generative design” are just some of the terms we have started to encounter more and more in recent years. Some have been around for a long time, while others are new. They are indicators of a paradigm shift in communication design—from static to flexible systems.
Everyday objects are used to develop patterns that are surprisingly well-suited to the design of visual systems. A flexible visual system can be developed from anything: a spaghetti strainer, the construction set you played with as a child, or the cobblestones on the street. On the first day, participants bring materials, objects, tools, and ideas with which to create at least three analog graphics generators. On the second day, the resulting graphics, structures, and grids are used to create posters.