Designing the Neinhorn

Das Neinhorn (The Unicorn Who Said No) began as a bestselling children’s book by Marc-Uwe Kling, the author and creator of the Neinhorn, illustrated by Astrid Henn.

In September 2020, Shadi Adib joined Studio Soi at the very beginning of the film adaptation, at the point where the studio had just come together with X-Filme and Marc-Uwe Kling to develop its first financing trailer.

Working closely with Kling and Astrid Henn, Shadi directed that trailer and set an early visual foundation for the Neinhorn and its world. Across several sessions with the two of them, the character design took shape: the Neinhorn itself, the raven, and the butterflies, the small cast needed to open a first window into the film’s animated world.

She also defined the tactile, felt-like look that gives the characters their handmade warmth, along with much of the world’s color palette. Many of those tones carried through into the finished film and can still be seen in the teaser below. It’s this handcrafted quality that audiences are responding to, calling it fresh and new, praising its handcrafted look.

On the left is a key pose from the financing trailer she directed. Beside it is the finished cinema poster, released in July 2026 by the Studio Soi team. Below are more of the original pose sheets from 2020, including the Neinhorn’s distinctive eyes and its range of expressions.

Shadi later went on to direct her own animated feature, The Light of Aisha, and Das Neinhorn has since grown into the film arriving in cinemas on 1 January 2027. She’s proud to have helped lay its groundwork, and grateful for the collaboration with Marc-Uwe Kling that set it all in motion.