
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!
- FMX Snapping To Randomness Get your ticket!
- Graphic Days Torino — In the city Oddly in love ILLO, 9 May
- Fabulist Running a studio: the Italian way Listen here
- Motion Hatch Podcast These motion designers built TWO successful studios Watch here!
2024
- Basquerville Lessons we didn’t plan to learn Vitoria-Gasteiz
- Deadline Snapping to Randomness Here the venue
- Design Bomb! Astrazione a Colazione: il processo creativo tra metafore visive e litri di caffè Catania, 30 May
- Motion Motion How impatience made me a better designer Book your tickets
- Pictoplasma The Era of Characterism? Check the festival
2023
- GeorgeUX Illustration Systems: Digital Emotion Management Watch here!
- Workshop Tribute to Lawrence Weiner Recontemporary, Turin
- George UX Conf Illustrating the Digital Human Experience Watch here!
- Politecnico di Torino Torino, 19 May
- Desina Design in motion More on
- IED Roma Illustration for Motion 14 April
- UXTalk Motion in UX Milan, 10 March
- Lightricks Future of Art 23 Feb
2022
- OFFF Tel Aviv OFFF*ck Check it out
- Politecnico di Torino Turin, April
2021
- IUAV Playful Innovation Online
- Digital Days Torino Online Register here
- Pop-up studio Berlin, 29 Aug — 2 Sept Berlin, 29 Aug — 2 Sept
- Forward Festival Hamburg, 2 July Watch soon
- Made by Folk Illo on the power of motion Watch here!
- OFFF Women in motion Watch here
- Awwwards Live Jury Website Reviews Watch here
- We are here polito “Dimmi che studi Ingegneria” con Sofia Viscardi e Lorenzo Luporini Watch here
- Circolo del design Dipunta interview — Tarot-o-bot Watch here
- CopyCat Motion Design How To Create Engaging Motion Design: Social Media Watch here
2020
- Future London Academy Instagram Live Listen here
- Unirsm Design Playful Innovation Watch here
- Funinreno IGTV Souvenirs w/ Ilenia Watch on Insta
- Torino Digital Days Design for a Post-Pandemic world (It) Watch here
- Torino Digital Days Smart Talk with ILLO (It) Watch here
- District Superdistrict — 01x01 illo Watch here
2019
- Caffè Design Millenium Bug (It) Listen on Spotify
- Mouvo What we can learn from machines Vimeo On Demand
- 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
- 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 :)