Section Case file 03CultureLisbon, Portugal, 2025

The festival that never stops spinning

An identity and lineup site for an after-dark city festival, designed to feel like the first ride of the night.

Client: Orbital Nights Festival
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Year: 2025
Disciplines: Identity, Interactive design, Motion

A neon swing ride blurred into ribbons of pink and orange light — Fig. 1. The identity started on the fairground, with a long exposure and a spinning ride.

Chapter 01

The brief

Orbital Nights takes over a riverside fairground for three nights every September. The organisers wanted an identity that felt like motion itself, and a site that could carry a lineup reveal, ticket sales and a live programme without falling over.

Chapter 02

The idea

Everything orbits. The logo is a loop that never quite closes, the lineup rotates like a carousel you can grab and spin, and the timetable shifts colour as the evening goes on.

Long-exposure lights from a giant city screen at night — Fig. 2. Motion studies for the lineup reveal.

A colourful ride turning against a soft blue evening sky — Fig. 3. The timetable follows the sun as it sets over the river.

Chapter 03

The result

The reveal sold out early-bird tickets in an afternoon, and the live programme carried the whole weekend on phones with patchy signal.

Nights, one never-ending loop: 3
To sell out early-bird tickets: 6 hrs
Of festival visits on mobile: 92%

We asked for a lineup page and got a whole festival you can scroll through. Playful, fast, and it held up beautifully on ticket day.
Jonas Weber, Creative Director, Orbital Nights

Credits

Identity, motion and development: Teo Valdane
Sound design: Festival resident artists
Photography: Orbital Nights crew