Inside Us By Night 2025: How our MB.ioneers Found New Creative Inspiration in Antwerp

Pedro Lopes and David Afonso, two MB.ioneers who recently attended Us By Night, a unique creative festival held in Antwerp from September 25th–27th, 2025.

But this wasn’t your typical design and creativity event. Set in a massive warehouse and running late into the night, Us By Night blended talks, live art, music, interactive installations, and food to create a one-of-a-kind creative conference experience.

The outcome is a deep, unfiltered source of inspiration for designers, filmmakers, creators, media producers, and visual storytellers from around the world.

A Creative Festival with Energy You Can’t Replicate

“It wasn’t just a design conference, it was a theme park for creatives”, David recalls. With stages hosting talks on graphic design, illustration, filmmaking, fashion, storytelling, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), the festival became a playground for professional growth and creative exchange. Pedro described it as “a space to feel inspired, without the weight of seriousness.”

From relaxed in-person talks to post-midnight DJ sets, Us By Night shattered the mold of formal creative conferences, offering something electric, chaotic, and unforgettable.

The Talks That Sparked Creative Reflection

For Pedro, the most impactful moment was watching Bráulio Amado, a Portuguese designer known for his bold, experimental work.

His presentation was raw, funny, and refreshingly unpolished. It reminded me that creativity isn’t always about perfection, it’s about perseverance, instinct, and boldness.

David found his spark in Vasilis Marmatakis, designer of film posters for director Yorgos Lanthimos.

He talked honestly about failure, iteration, and ideas that didn’t work and that made the creative process feel more human.

Both talks reminded the team how powerful storytelling, imperfection, and experimentation can be, even when working inside structured.

Challenging the Creative Status Quo

In this conference, they questioned what it meant to push creative boundaries.

While for Pedro, embracing ambiguity was a big theme. He was struck by the idea that design doesn’t always need to explain itself, sometimes, mystery is part of the message. That tension between clarity and experimentation can drive more emotional and engaging work.

On the other hand, David highlighted the presentation by Polina Zakharova, founder of Hard Feelings, as especially moving. She used her battle with cancer to fuel her creativity, showing how emotion and resilience can become creative superpowers: “It wasn’t just about the work she showed, it was about surviving through creativity. That was incredibly powerful.”

What This Means for Their Work at Mercedes-Benz.io

After three nights immersed in design talks, installations, and conversations, both Pedro and David returned with renewed purpose.

“I want to bring more storytelling, more curiosity, and more unpredictability into our design processes,” Pedro said. “To challenge what ‘polished’ really means.”

“The experience reminded me to be more intentional,” said David. “To push our team’s creativity by sharing references, collaborating more openly, and tapping into richer sources of inspiration.”

Designing in the Tension

One of the biggest takeaways was the creative contrast that defined the festival: human versus machine, global versus local, raw versus refined. Us By Night didn’t resolve these tensions but celebrated them as part of the creative journey.

“We work with strong guidelines and systems,” Pedro said. “But within that structure, there’s still room to surprise. To create designs that feel more human, more sensory, and more real.”

For David, the conference was a reminder to never stop asking: “How can I evolve? How can I bring new perspective to the team? How do we grow as creators?”

Final Thoughts: Creativity After Dark

Us By Night didn’t just inspire Pedro and David, it reminded them why they design in the first place. Not for perfection. Not for templates. But to explore, provoke, connect, and feel.

It was a festival that broke the rules and made space for emotion, instinct, and experimentation and now, back at Mercedes-Benz.io, they’re ready to keep that energy alive, one project at a time.