Klaus Hesse studied photography and typography at the University of Wupperthal. In 1988, together with Christine Hesse he founded the agency Hesse Design in Düsseldorf; the duo also ran an office in Berlin between 2001 and 2004. In 2016 he founded another studio in Shanghai/China. The agency is behind corporate designs for Audi, Bewag, Dekra, State Capital Düsseldorf, the Robert Bosch Foundation, Stuttgart Trade Fair, Swarovski and the Upper Middle Rhine World Heritage Site, to name a few. They have been nominated for the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany on several occasions and have won over 200 national and international awards. In 2006, Klaus Hesse won the long-established competition for the visual identity for the Kiel Regatta Week that year. From 1993 through 1999, he taught as a professor for communication design at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and the University of Essen. Klaus Hesse has been head of the Communications Design Department at the University of Art and DesignOffenbach am Main from 1999 to 2020. In 2006, his faculty topped the ranking of creative universities as chosen by German news magazine Focus. From 2011 to 2018 he was dean of the art department. Klaus Hesse was co-initiator of the 11 Designers for Germany on occasion of the 2006 World Cup and of the 1st Graphic Design Biennale Germany China in 2010, and editor-in-chef of the “sushi” yearbook from 1998 through 2015. He has also conducted a series of tours giving lectures and holding workshops, which took him to Cracow/Poland, Puebla/Mexico, Basel/Switzerland, the Chinese metropolises of Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Xi'an and Chongqing, Sydney/Australia and Cape Town/South Africa. Hesse is also a member of the Type Directors’ Club, New York.
Publications
The Kids want communism! 200 Years Karl Marx, HfG Verlag Offenbach 2018,.
Der Helvetica-Mann., Hermann Schmidt Mainz, Mainz 1999,.
sushi - Jahresmagazin für junge Kreativität, 1998 through 2015, published by Art Directors Club of Germany.
Published articles
Above a certain level, the sex is random.
The fear of the voter paralyzes all parties. To the campaigning for the 2009 federal elections
PingPongProjekt, Interview
Schön und Wider - Ein Plädoyer für die Gestaltung hinter der Gestaltung
Book review for Die schönsten deutschen Bücher/Stiftung Buchkunst, Klaus Hesse et al. with Roger Willemsen, Max Küng, Eckhard Henscheid, Jost Hochuli and Manfred Sack, March 2007, )
Zeichengeschichten. Co-author Klaus Hesse
Achte auf die Pfoten. Foreword in “100 Beste Plakate-Buch”
Die Brüche am Main. Eine Stadt gründet sich neu. B-Side, HfG Offenbach, Offenbach/Main 2005,
2007 Dimension der Fläche, international travelling exhibition by the Goethe Institute
2007 Ständige Plakatsammlung, Museum of Design, Zurich/Switzerland
2006 Deutschlandjahr, International Poster Exhibition, Tokushima/Japan
2006 Diseño Editorial, Museo Poblano de Arte Virreinal Puebla, Mexico, among others with Ricardo Salas, Isidor Ferrer, Leonel Sagahón, Gabriela Rodriguez
