About · Us By Night ©
“The design conference masquerading as one huge party.”
— It’s Nice That
Us By Night blends high-caliber creative keynotes with the raw, kinetic energy of a music festival — three late nights inside a vast concrete warehouse on the Antwerp waterfront, turned into a nocturnal theme park for visual culture.
Us By Night redefines the traditional design conference. Over three editions we transform a massive industrial warehouse into a neon-lit playground for visual culture — bringing together internationally renowned icons, emerging talents and thousands of makers from across the globe.
Built to inspire, cross-pollinate and reenergize your creative drive.
The Lineup & Cross-Pollination+
Our stages host storytellers from across the entire modern visual spectrum. These sessions aren’t case-study showreels or rigid classrooms — they’re deeply personal, vulnerable and triumphant journeys, designed to rekindle the urge to make things. We mix disciplines on the same stage on purpose, so you stumble into inspiration well outside your own medium.
- Design & Image — graphic design, typography, illustration, photography.
- Motion & Experience — film, animation, sound, spatial design, architecture, interior.
- Future & Technology — AR/VR, AI, interactive media.
The Stages+
- The Main Stage — a pristine black box built for pure focus and total immersion.
- The Stadium — our open-format second stage, blending into the vibrant chaos of the Nightmarket. Now fully upgraded to the same audio and video quality as the Main Stage.
The Nightmarket+
Built from sea containers, scaffolding and monolith structures, the Nightmarket is an ever-evolving, chaotic playground.
- A 70-metre collective wheatpasting collage wall, immersive installations and custom sculptures.
- Arcade games, ping-pong battles, a flea market and a hands-on makers lab.
- A tattoo studio, massage salon and live on-location printing.
- An interactive photo studio and curated galleries, including the APF Poster Festival.
- Local food courts and premium cocktail bars.
XYZ Club+
When midnight arrives, the central warehouse transforms into the XYZ Club. The talks wrap, world-class DJs take over, and the design community shares a roof with the dancefloor.
Thursday and Friday the music runs to 01:00, so your brain can recover for the next day. On Saturday, all bets are off — we go until 04:00 for the closing party.
The Daytime Programme+
The experience doesn’t pause during the day. Powered by the UBN App, our crowd-sourced daytime schedule lets visitors create and join community-led meetups using a curated city hotspot map — now guiding thousands of users shaping their daily journals and exploring Antwerp together.
The Coachella of design. It’s really unique and done so well, like nothing else that exists.Brian Roettinger · Co-founder, Perron-Roettinger (LA)
The line-up is absolutely amazing and contemporary as fuck.Leta Sobierajski · Designer (Brooklyn)
One of the most innovative and most professionally organized design conferences I’ve been part of.Eike König · Founder, Studio HORT (Berlin)
The energy was kinetic and invigorating.Claire Kang · Art Director, Nike
Us By Night has always been a pivotal moment in my life.José Cabaco · former Global Creative Director, Adidas
More words+
It felt like I’d been given the opportunity to take my work to a Beyoncé-level stadium show… held beautifully, with respect and excitement.David Wilson · Director (London)
A creativity and design rave set in a cool industrial warehouse — vibing on the most epic dance floor.OFFF Barcelona
Possibly the best night of my life.Jim Stoten · Illustrator
We’ve been to our fair share of design events, but none quite like this.Computer Arts Magazine
Us By Night was born in 2016, when the city of Antwerp invited self-taught 3D designer and illustrator Rizon Parein to give design a larger, more impactful platform.
The full story+
Rizon’s background shapes the festival’s DNA. He began in 1998 designing nightlife flyers in Belgium and ran his own club for three years before moving into global advertising — going on to ignite worldwide design trends, including the iconic neon poster for the cult film Drive, and spending years with Nike’s Brand Design team in Portland.
Driven by a lifelong passion for community building — rooted in organizing 90s graffiti jams — he envisioned a format that broke the mold of the clinical design conference. After a pandemic-forced hiatus, during which he joined Meta’s Reality Labs as a product designer shaping future-facing tech, he stepped back in 2023 to bring the festival back — charging into its most ambitious edition yet.
Pro tip: Google Maps has live De Lijn (Flanders public transport) integration — handy for real-time tram & bus directions and timing.