We are the people that built and led the Visitor Experience team at Expo 2020 Dubai, the first time such a role was established at this scale for a global mega-event.

There was no manual. We operated in a highly complex, fast-evolving environment shaped by bold aspirations, tight deadlines, and thousands of independent contributors. Everyone shared the same goal of delivering an exceptional experience to millions of visitors, but often operated from different scripts.

We saw firsthand the divide that can open between vision and execution. To meet this challenge, we created tools to map narratives in space, to align experiential design with construction and operations, to expand the brand language into an experiential toolkit, and to develop a shared language across disciplines.

Visitor experience, we came to understand, is not about designing experiences, but about designing the spaces that enable them. It is a subtle linguistic shift, but one that fundamentally changes what we prioritise, how moments take shape, and the processes we rely on to bring them to life.
At Busa Woodward, we are now focused on closing the experience divide: aligning vision with execution.

We have since evolved our methods, integrating insights from neuroscience, artificial intelligence, spatial design, linguistics, and sound.

Today, we are building the tools we wish we had back then.