Founded by Ilenia Notarangelo & Luca Gonnelli in 2012, illo is a world-class design studio operating from beautiful Turin, Italy. We are a very diverse team of 15 people of different nationalities, educational backgrounds and we are, proudly, gender-balanced. Pizza, respect and love for design & technology are the things that tie us together.
Since the very beginning of illo (when the studio was incomprehensibly called ilenoliukgo and our HQ was a small kitchen), our purpose was to provide a bold design perspective to the world of innovation, on a global scale. We started working for micro-startups, and we are now happy to include some of the biggest digital brands on earth among our clients (it didn't happen overnight).
Our design DNA takes its cues from some of the greatest Italian designers (the likes of Munari, Sottsass & Vignelli) and feeds on contemporary illustration and the international animation scene. We also like to compare our work to another great Italian symbol: Pizza Margherita, because it’s simple, iconic & has a limited color palette! Just like we aim to shape our projects.
- Animation
- Gifs (/jifs/)
- Motion design
- Motion toolkit
- Motion series
- Automated video
- Art Direction
- Branding
- Illustration systems
- Illustration
- Website visuals
- Editorial
- 3D
- Advertising
- AR Filters
- Commercials
- Data-driven
- Video mapping
We also founded the studio to create a place we would be happy to work in. Building and shaping our own studio culture is something that makes the whole team proud and it’s one of the main reasons why talents want to join us. We eat together (with lunch & snacks courtesy of the studio), we have weekly creative talks — where everyone has the opportunity to present a creative topic, unrelated to our studio work.
We go for annual creative retreats around the world to foster our design-thinking (and have fun at conferences, in pools or on camels). And every other year we organize crazy brillo parties ("brillo" in Italian means both “I sparkle” and “I am slightly drunk”, the perfect combo for a festive mood). In short, we aim to create the kind of environment that inspires people to give, and feel, their best.
Talks & Interviews
During the years, we had the chance to talk in front of international audiences at some of our favorite design & motion conferences about what inspires us, how we work & about algo.tv, our data-driven studio led by a robot.
Generally, we love to share our perspective on motion design, innovation in the creative industry and equality in the workplace. And we also have a Spotify playlist where you can listen to all our interviews (and many more are coming soon, so make sure to follow it)! Get in touch with [email protected] if you want us to participate in a workshop or in a talk!
Here’s where we’ve been telling our stories so far:
- 2025 Graphic Days Torino +Snapping To Randomness Get your ticket!
- 2025 FMX +Snapping To Randomness Get your ticket!
- 2025 Graphic Days Torino — In the city +Oddly in love ILLO, 9 May
- 2025 Fabulist +Running a studio: the Italian way Listen here
- 2025 Motion Hatch Podcast +These motion designers built TWO successful studios Watch here!
- 2024 Basquerville +Lessons we didn’t plan to learn Vitoria-Gasteiz
- 2024 Deadline +Snapping to Randomness Here the venue
- 2024 Design Bomb! +Astrazione a Colazione: il processo creativo tra metafore visive e litri di caffè Catania, 30 May
- 2024 Motion Motion +How impatience made me a better designer Book your tickets
- 2024 Pictoplasma +The Era of Characterism? Check the festival
- 2023 GeorgeUX +Illustration Systems: Digital Emotion Management Watch here!
- 2023 Workshop +Tribute to Lawrence Weiner Recontemporary, Turin
- 2023 George UX Conf +Illustrating the Digital Human Experience Watch here!
- 2023 Politecnico di Torino +Torino, 19 May
- 2023 Desina +Design in motion More on
- 2023 IED Roma +Illustration for Motion 14 April
- 2023 UXTalk +Motion in UX Milan, 10 March
- 2023 Lightricks +Future of Art 23 Feb
- 2022 OFFF Tel Aviv +OFFF*ck Check it out
- 2022 Politecnico di Torino +Turin, April
- 2021 IUAV +Playful Innovation Online
- 2021 Digital Days Torino +Online Register here
- 2021 Pop-up studio +Berlin, 29 Aug — 2 Sept Berlin, 29 Aug — 2 Sept
- 2021 Forward Festival +Hamburg, 2 July Watch soon
- 2021 Made by Folk +Illo on the power of motion Watch here!
- 2021 OFFF +Women in motion Watch here
- 2021 Awwwards +Live Jury Website Reviews Watch here
- 2021 We are here polito +“Dimmi che studi Ingegneria” con Sofia Viscardi e Lorenzo Luporini Watch here
- 2021 Circolo del design +Dipunta interview — Tarot-o-bot Watch here
- 2021 CopyCat Motion Design +How To Create Engaging Motion Design: Social Media Watch here
- 2020 Future London Academy +Instagram Live Listen here
- 2020 Unirsm Design +Playful Innovation Watch here
- 2020 Funinreno IGTV +Souvenirs w/ Ilenia Watch on Insta
- 2020 Torino Digital Days +Design for a Post-Pandemic world (It) Watch here
- 2020 Torino Digital Days +Smart Talk with ILLO (It) Watch here
- 2020 District +Superdistrict — 01x01 illo Watch here
- 2019 Caffè Design +Millenium Bug (It) Listen on Spotify
- 2019 Mouvo +What we can learn from machines Vimeo On Demand
- 2019 Move Summit +Education in motion Edinburgh, 19—21 Jan
- 2018 Why Festival +Designing for Airbnb Firenze, 18 Sep
- 2017 Blend +Sharing the desk with a robot Read on Medium
- 2017 Animalator +Interview with Ilenia & Luca Listen here
Our super team
We are a team of 15, including designers, animators, & business-oriented creatives. Together, we are the illoers.
We're all quite multidisciplinary and like to get our hands dirty. We don’t have fixed teams. Instead we put together the best possible crew for every project, adapting to its specific needs. This also means that we like to move around a bit, so every 2–3 weeks we swap our desks according to the projects’ requirements. Over time, this leads to less routine & more shared work with the entire team.
- Design team
- Business team
- Animation team
- Algo team
Ilenia Notarangelo — Partner & Creative Director
Luca Gonnelli — Partner & Clients Director
Cristina Pasquale — Creative Director
Ani Karamanukyan — General Manager
Matteo Ruffinengo — R&D Director & Animator
Arianna Cristiano — Design Director
Sofia Buti — Illustrator Lead
David Cubitt — Animation Lead
Giovanna Crise — Brand Strategist
Riccardo Chiara — 2D/3D Senior Motion Designer
Alessandra Marin — Senior Illustrator
Fabio Orlando — Senior Animator
Daniel Ceballos — Business strategist & Producer
Laura Mazzarino — Studio Assistant
Michele Giamello — 3D illustrator
Pinguino — Receptionist
Wanna join the team? You can send an email to [email protected] or check our contact page for more info about open positions. We'd love to hear from you :)