Studio Tillack Knöll is a design studio specializing in content-driven visual expression and spatial communication. We design exhibitions, wayfinding systems, books, visual identities and digital experiences for a diverse range of clients, including those in architecture, art, commerce, science, and cultural institutions, as well as NGOs.
Our focus is to create striking visual languages through organizing content and strategic thinking. We develop holistic concepts that integrate form and function, guiding content from inception to completion. Collaboration is at the core of our work. Beyond creating visual output, we enrich our practice with editing, writing, and coding. Much of our work is visually and tactilely driven, and we accordingly strive for designs that are distinctive, meaningful, and intellectually engaging.
Founders
Sven Tillack
Sven is the studio’s driving force behind all digital endeavours (coded and animated). As creative director and passionate book designer, his keen eye for detail and production not only comes in handy when completing projects, but also when assembling the studio’s daily playlists. He holds a diploma from the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design and has a background in photography, advertising, corporate communication and—as author and editor of Exploriso: Low-tech Fine Art (SpectorBooks, 2022)—he is also the studios very own print specialist and risography-connaisseur.
Steffen Knöll
The fact that Steffen was close to enrolling in architecture school accounts for the studio’s focus on exhibition-making and spatial design. He is the editor of Apollo 11—Man on the Moon—The Visual Archive (Spector Books, 2022) and of ion42: Architecture for a Particle Accelerator (2025), and member of the editing team at Klub Books, a small publisher for architectural publications. Besides being co-founder and creative director, Steffen is the studio’s chief accountant and head librarian of the studio’s vast book collection.
Team
Johannes Hucht
Johannes Hucht is a communication designer, type designer, and book designer. He has been a permanent member of Studio Tillack Knöll since 2021. He studied communication and product design as well as scenography at HfG Karlsruhe. In 2016, he was awarded the Spector Books scholarship for designing the publication Re-Reading the Manual of Travelling Exhibitions, UNESCO 1953.
Paul Daubenspeck
Past team members include Niklas Berlec, Janis Czapka, Vincent Herbet, Marius Rother, Sarah Schlecht and Lea Wellern.
Commissions
| ’asp' architekten Apple Breuninger Bund Deutscher Architekten BDA Bürgerrat Klima Deutsche Akademie Villa Massimo Rom Deutsches Bauernkriegsmuseum Gian Paolo e Marco haascookzemmrich STUDIO2025 Hochbauamt Stuttgart Hrycyk Architekten BDA in.Stuttgart GmbH KIT — Karlsruher Institut für Technologie Kunstmuseum Reutlingen Kunstmuseum Stuttgart Kunstverein Wagenhalle e.V. Nike Schmutz & Partner Staatsgalerie Stuttgart Stiftung Buchkunst Stuttgart-Marketing GmbH Studio Cross Scale Studio Susanne Brorson Studio Urbane Strategien TATTI Stay & See The Opéra Magazine The Rice Society VfB Stuttgart |
Talks + Workshops
2024 | Guest critique, Merz Akademie Stuttgart, Department of Visual Communication [Prof. Anja Weber] Guest critique »Vom Körper zur Fläche«, Merz Akademie Stuttgart, Department of Visual Communication [LBA Tobias Hönow] Design Summer academy 2024, Hangzhou, China, 10-day workshop, »Poster Playground: 7×7 ways to design a poster« |
2023 | »Community Characters—Collaborative Type Design«, INTL, 2-day Workshop »Talking Thursdays«, talk with TwoTimesElliott |
2021 | »Mix & Match! Colormanagement am Risographen«, talk within the Start Art Week in cooperation with RISO Deutschland, Metapaper and Drucken3000. University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf »Make Them Seen, Make Them Heard«, talk within the module »Das hat mich schon immer interessiert – Eine Publikation« supervised by Jonas Beuchert and Tilman Schlevogt. Bauhaus-Universität Weimar Lecture in the design department supervised by Prof. Ilka Helmig und Prof. Eva Kubinyi. FH Aachen Start Art Week, HS Düsseldorf, 1-day Riso Workshop [supervised by RISO Deutschland] |
2019 | Algorithm.Camp, HfG Karlrsuhe × ABK Stuttgart; Karlsruhe & Stuttgart [with Sascia Reibel and Grischa Erbe] |
2018 | aed Stuttgart »3 × Type«. Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart Workshop as part of the traveling exhibition of the 11th Macau Design Biennial. Shanghai, China IDUGS #51 [InDesign User Group Stuttgart Meet-Up]. Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart |
2017 | Macau Design Biennial. Macau »Exploriso: Low-tech Fine Art?«, Adobe Creative Jam. Im Wizemann, Stuttgart »Exploriso: Low-tech Fine Art?«, Metapaper Breakfast of Inspiration. Café Netzer, Stuttgart |
2015 | Lecture during the Taipei International Design Award ceremony, Taipei City Government Department of Economic Development. Taipei, Taiwan |
Teaching
2018–2023 | Gestaltung Digitaler Medien: HTML & CSS Basics. Stuttgart State Academy of Arts and Design [supervised by Prof. Gerwin Schmidt] |
2018–2022 | Medien I, Fundamentals of design and experimental design in the Architecture and Design departments. Stuttgart State Academy of Arts and Design [supervised by Prof. Fahim Mohammadi] |
2020–2022 | Typographie, Integriertes Produktdesign, Fachgruppe Design. Hochschule Coburg [supervised by Prof.in Natalie Weinmann] |
Recognitions
2025 | Stiftung Buchkunst, Best German Book Design 2025, awarded (×1), Shortlist (×1) Tokyo TDC Annual Awards 2025, Excellent Work (x2) Bienal de Diseño y Cartel Bolivia BICeBé 2025 (x3) 29th International Poster Biennal Warsaw B.I. International Poster Art Biennale, South Korea, Shortlist |
2024 | ISTD Awards 2024, Certificate Of Typographic Excellence (×2) Stiftung Buchkunst, Sponsorship prize for young book design, Shortlist Tokyo TDC Annual Awards 2024, Excellent work (x2) |
2023 | Landeshauptstadt Kiel, Referat Kieler Woche, 3rd place at Kieler Woche 2024 design competition Tokyo TDC Annual Awards 2023, Prize Nominee Les Recontres de la photographie d’Arles 2023, LE PRIX DU LIVRE D’AUTEUR, shortlist Stiftung Buchkunst, The Best German Book Design 2022. 1 × Long-, 1 × Shortlist |
2021 | Discovered, cooperation of the art academies and art schools Leipzig, Hamburg and Stuttgart with the publishing house Spector Books Tokyo TDC Type Directors Club, Annual Awards, Excellent Work (x2) Stiftung Buchkunst, The Best German Book Design 2021. 2 × Awarded as „Best German Book Design“ |
2018 | The 3rd Shenzen International Poster Festival SIPF 2018, Silver Medal 11th Macau Design Biennial, Bronze Award in Category Book, Jury & Distinction Award in Category Book Taipei International Design Award 2015, Silver Award |
2016 | The 2nd Shenzhen International Poster Festival SIPF2016, Silver Award Stiftung Buchkunst, The Best German Book Design 2016, Longlist Stiftung Buchkunst, Sponsorship prize for young book design 2016, Shortlist Global Biennale of Graphic Design Golden Bee, All Gold of the World 2014 – 2016, 2018, Golden Fix Award 27th Brno Biennial International Exhibition 2016, Selected Work |
2015 | Taipei International Design Award 2015, Taipei Mayor Award, Gold Award, Judges’ Award 2015 Graphic Design Festival Scotland, International Poster Competition, 2nd Place Italian Poster Biennial 2015, 2nd Place |
Exhibitions
2025 | Tokyo TDC Type Directors Club 2025, ginza graphic gallery. Tokyo, Japan |
2024 | Hong Kong International Poster Triennial 2024, Commercial & Advertising; Animated Poster Luga Poster Biennale 2024, »Selected« in Cultural Posters & as well as Animated Posters The International Poster Competition 2024, INT’L, (×2) Ecuador Poster Biennal 2024, Category B |
2023 | Exhibition of the participating designs for Kieler Woche 2024 [Kiel Week of Sailing 2024]. Rathaus Kiel, Germany Bienal del Cartel Bolivia BICeBé 2023. La Paz, Bolivia Weltformat Graphic Design Festival 2023, Kieler Woche exhibition, Kunsthalle (Cabinet). Bourbaki, Lucerne, Switzerland Weltformat Graphic Design Festival 2023, Lost Pitches exhibition, Kunsthalle (Cabinet). Bourbaki, Lucerne, Switzerland »Der Klang des Papiers—Materialreflexionen im Plakat« [The sound of Paper—Material reflections in the poster], Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für Moderne Kunst. Cottbus, Germany Tokyo TDC in Berlin, Berlin Center of Visual Arts. Berlin, Germany Tokyo TDC Selected Artworks 2022–2023. Hangzhou, China 100 Beste Plakate 22 Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz. Kulturforum Berlin, Germany 100 Beste Plakate 22 Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz, Open Air-Exhibition. Ljubljana, Slovenia |
2022 | INT’L International Poster Competition 2022, International Assembly. Glasgow, Scotland |
2021 | Biennale Internationale de Design Graphique de Chaumont. Chaumont, France HKIPT 2021, »Still & Motion«, Hong Kong International Poster Triennial. Hong Kong, China Bienal del Cartel Bolivia BICeBé 2023. La Paz, Bolivia |
2020 | Typomania 2020, »Collaboration«. Moscow, Russia |
2019 | 100 Beste Plakat 2018 Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz; Kulturforum Berlin, Germany |
2018 | »Der Mond—Eine szenografische Reise zum Erdtrabanten in drei Akten«, Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart. Stuttgart, Germany |
2017 | »Rundumschlag—rund um Architektur«, ehemaliger Projektraum Lotte. Stuttgart, Germany 100 Beste Plakate 2016 Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz. Kulturforum Berlin, Germany |
2016 | Tokyo Type Directors Club 2016 |
2015 | 100 Beste Plakat 2014 Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz. Kulturforum Berlin, Germany |
2015 | Italian Poster Biennial. Padova, Italy |
2014 | 100 Beste Plakate 2013 Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz. Kulturforum Berlin, Germany |
2013 | 100 Beste Plakate 2012 Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz. Kulturforum Berlin, Germany |
Press
2024 | Tokyo TDC Vol. 35, The Best in International Typography & Design, ISBN 978-4-88752-060-8 International Typographic Awards Book 2024, ISBN 978-1-9160944-4-4 |
2023 | 100 Beste Plakate 22, Kehrer Verlag, ISBN 978-3-98741-041-3 Tokyo TDC Vol. 34, The Best in International Typography & Design, DNP Art Communications Co., Ltd., ISBN 978-4-88752-059-2 |
2022 | Die Schönsten Deutschen Bücher 2021: The Best German Book Design 2021, ISBN 978-3-98221-080-3 Sindelfinger Zeitung, »Stuttgart hat im Neckarpark ein neues Architektur-Highlight« |
2021 | Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart, »Weltgeister« GUESTBOOK MAGAZINE, »NASA Apollo 11 von Steffen Knöll« Süddeutsche Zeitung, »Zwei neue Bücher über die neue Faszination des Weltraums — 1,5 Zentimeter zum tödlichen Vakuum« Page 05.21, »Publikationen: Exploriso« PAGE Online, »Exploriso: Handbuch fürs Riso-Printing« étapes, 259 — Feature »Stuttgart« Comm Arts, »Fresh: Studio Tillack Knöll« Comm Arts, Design Annual #62, September 2021, »Fresh: Studio Tillack Knöll (The designers at this Stuttgart-based studio use their work to create a visual dialogue with their community.)« Deutscher Drucker 11/56, »Schönsten Deutsche Bücher: Was die Jury aus 633 Einsendungen herausfilterte« Tokyo TDC Vol. 32, The Best in International Typography & Design, DNP Art Communications Co., Ltd., ISBN 978-4-88752-057-8 |
2020 | It’s Nice That, »Designing the identity for an art institution that contradicts the all-too-familiar capitalist narrative« A Book On Books, viction:ary, ISBN 978-988-79726-3-1 100 Beste Plakate 2019, ISBN 978-3-86206-825-8 100 Beste Plakate 2019 (Korea), ISBN 979-11-968949-1-7 |
2019 | Paul Theisen, »Revolution im Großformat« |
2017 | AIGA Eye On Design, »Why Graphic Designer Sven Tillack Likes to Work Very, Very Slowly« (RIP) Deutscher Drucker 25–26, Themenschwerpunkt Risographie |
2016 | 100 Beste Plakate / 100 Best Posters / Atlas 15, 100BPBOOKS, ISBN 978-3-00-052861-3 |
2015 | 100 Beste Plakate 14, Verlag Hermann Schmidt, ISBN 978-3-87439-871-8 |
2014 | 100 Beste Plakate, The Medium is the Message (Das Plakat ist die Botschaft), Verlag Herrmann Schmidt, ISBN 978-3-87439-863-3 |
Collections
| Musée Des Arts Décoratifs Paris 100 Beste Plakate e. V. Permanent collection of Hong Kong Heritage Museum |
Studio Tillack Knöll is a multicreative design practice that concerns itself with the visual and spatial aspects of communication. We design exhibitions, wayfinding systems, books, visual identities and digital experiences for a variety of clients involved in architecture, art, science and commerce to cultural institutions and NGOs.