The website
The story, programme, schedule, people and partners, in a design drawn from the ocean at the heart of the programme and made for every screen.
Case study · Cultural diplomacy
Barbados at 60, carried across an ocean.
Saltwater Stories carries Barbados’ 60th Anniversary of Independence to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, presented by the Embassy of Barbados in the United Arab Emirates. We created its home online: the website, the podcast and a studio the embassy runs itself.
- 60 years
- Of Barbados’ Independence, 1966 to 2026
- 2 Emirates
- Dubai and Abu Dhabi
The brief
A national milestone, an ocean from home.
On 30 November 2026, Barbados marks 60 years of Independence and five years as a Republic. The embassy in Abu Dhabi chose to celebrate on the UAE’s global stage, with a contemporary art installation at Alserkal Avenue in Dubai and a Cultural Extravaganza on the Abu Dhabi Corniche. Saltwater Stories needed a home online worthy of the occasion: one that could speak for a nation, welcome the diplomatic community, and keep pace with a live programme as it came together.
- One home for the story, the programme and the people
- Messages from the country’s leaders
- Partners and sponsors in Barbados and the UAE
- Audiences from the diplomatic corps to the diaspora
What we built
More than a website, a home for the story.
The podcast
A video and audio show with its own home, episode pages and RSS feed, carrying conversations on memory, identity and belonging.
The content studio
A private studio where the embassy publishes news, events, episodes, awards, partners and profiles itself. Saving updates the live site straight away.
Awards, under seal
The Saltwater Stories Awards stay sealed behind a live countdown, and the honourees appear on their own when the moment comes.
A controlled launch
A Coming Soon mode with guest passes let the embassy and its partners review everything privately before the site opened to the world.
Privacy-first insight
Cookie-free analytics inside the studio show the team what people are reading, without following anyone around the web.
The podcast
Listen to the ocean archive.
The Saltwater Stories podcast explores memory, identity and belonging between Barbados and the UAE: art, innovation, sustainability and the people shaping a large-ocean state at sixty. The introduction sets the tone in four minutes of ocean, light and voice.
Saltwater Stories: The Introduction
Season 1 trailer
How we work with the embassy
The embassy’s story, our craft.
The embassy leads the story, and TAPP Digital is a named partner in the programme, alongside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, the Barbados Museum & Historical Society, the National Cultural Foundation and others. Our founder, Fabian Branch, serves as Creative & Technology Director for its digital presence, so creative and engineering decisions sit in one place. And because the studio is the embassy’s own, its team can publish in minutes, without waiting on a developer.
- One creative and technology lead, from first idea to launch
- The embassy team publishes and updates its own content
- Schedules entered and shown in Gulf Standard Time
- New features delivered as the programme grows
Inside the site
Built to feel like the occasion.
The trident, in motion
2 Emirates, 2 Experiences
The Awards, under seal
The schedule, in Gulf Standard TimeA longer journey
Connecting Barbados to the world.
Saltwater Stories builds on our work for Barbados’ international presence. We built the websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and the Consulate General in Toronto, and we developed and operate the Barbados Country Desk, which connects Barbadian enterprises with investors along the Barbados to UAE corridor. Trade, diplomacy and culture are one conversation, and we’re proud to help carry it.
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Read the case studyHave a story worth carrying further?
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