Portugal Expo 2020 Dubai - The Portuguese Culture

AICEP challenged Hypnotic to redesign and rebuild the official website for Portugal Expo 2020 Dubai in just 30 days. The existing platform no longer reflected the quality, ambition, and identity expected from Portugal's presence at the World Expo.

The website needed to do more than present the Pavilion. It had to communicate Portugal's culture, innovation, and programme to an international audience, while supporting visitors, journalists, and organisers through an accessible and easy-to-manage platform. All content had to be ready for launch on 1 October 2020, despite an exceptionally demanding schedule during the summer holiday period.

Built under pressure. Designed to last.

Working within an exceptionally short delivery window, we focused on performance, usability, and editorial flexibility. The platform was developed in WordPress with a custom design and an intuitive content management experience, allowing the Pavilion team to update information independently throughout the event.

The user experience was structured around clear navigation paths, helping visitors explore Portugal, discover the event programme, access press resources, and learn more about the Pavilion. Modular content components ensured the platform could evolve throughout the Expo while maintaining consistency and performance.

Despite the compressed timeline, the project was delivered on schedule, providing Portugal with a modern and reliable digital presence for one of the world's largest international events.

Portugal's digital presence at Expo 2020 Dubai.

Launched on 1 October 2020, the website became the official digital platform supporting Portugal's participation in the World Expo. Designed to be responsive, accessible, and easy to manage, it allowed the Pavilion team to publish updates, events, and news throughout the exhibition without technical support.

The platform also achieved excellent Lighthouse performance scores across Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices, and SEO, demonstrating that speed, quality, and accessibility can coexist within a large-scale institutional project.

The platform was developed using WordPress with a fully custom theme and a modular CMS tailored to the Pavilion's editorial needs. Bootstrap supported the responsive frontend, while the architecture was optimised for accessibility, SEO, and long-term maintainability.