Prof. Sven Völker

Sven Völker (b. 1974) is an author, artist, and designer based in Berlin, as well as a professor of graphic design. At the University of Applied Sciences in Potsdam, he heads the Picture Book Lab within the Communication Design program. (picturebooklab.de) His picture book *A Million Dots* won the 2019 New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books Award. Together with composer and singer Sting, Völker published his first picture book with NordSüd Verlag in 2015. Other picture books published and translated into several languages include “Are We There Yet?” (2023), “The Museum of Shapes” (2025), and “Pinocchio” (2026).
Sven Völker is a professor of Experiment and Strategy in Graphic Design at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam. He studied at the University of the Arts Bremen (B.A.) and at Middlesex University London (M.A.). In 2004, he was appointed professor at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design and accepted a position at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle in 2010. He designed the award-winning global brand identity for Suzuki Motor Corporation and has worked as a designer across a wide range of media and formats—from opera set design to artistic spatial installations.  From 2010 to 2024, he published "Some Magazine" together with his students. Völker regularly publishes books and articles on design and art: "Some Book" was published in 2014 by Lars Müller Verlag, and "Go Faster" in 2010 by Gestalten Verlag. "Helping the World Across the Street" was published in 2010 in collaboration with the philosopher Peter Sloterdijk.

svenvoelker.com

picturebooklab.de

• Award for Excellence Bologna Illustrators Exhibition 2024 und 2026
• Bestes Wissenschaftsbuch des Jahres Österreich - Shortlist, 2024
• English Picture Book Awards - Best Picture Book Non Fiction, 2020
• The New York Times & New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Books, 2019
• Die Schönsten Deutschen Bücher - Shortlist 2016
• Red Dot Award (multiple times)
• ADC Award (multiple times)
• iF Award (multiple times) 
• Lead Award Honorary Mention 2010

• Museum für Konkrete Kunst Ingolstadt, 2026
• Big Eyes Gallery, Bologna, 2026
• MAK Wien, 2026
• Today Art Museum Beijing, China 2025
• Pinakothek der Moderne/Neue Sammlung München 2024
• Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya City, Japan 2024
• Itabashi Art Museum Tokyo 2024
• Otani Memorial Art Museum Hyogo/Japan, 2024
• MAK Wien 2022
• Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, 2021
• Fondation Cartier Paris, 2017
• Seven Star Gallery Berlin, 2016
• Grand Palais Bern, 2012
• Go with the Flø Norway, 2012 
• ZKM Karlsruhe, 2011, 
• Absolut Art Space MADE Berlin, 2011