How Our Work Led Carbo to Lantern Awards Recognition and a Digital Breakthrough

Iryna Shevchenko
Chief Marketing Officer

Inside the Lantern Awards Program

The Lantern Awards is an annual program hosted by the Houston Business Marketing Alliance. The event focuses on work that helps companies communicate complex products and operations in a clear, meaningful way. It is one of the few industry awards that consistently recognizes projects where structure and thoughtful execution matter as much as visuals.

And right from here comes the biggest news for us, our Carbo project was selected among the recognized works this year.

It was our first Lantern Awards recognition, and being there in person made the moment even more memorable. It also became a meaningful benchmark for the type of work we strive to deliver in complex, technical industries.

Carbo is the kind of project that usually works quietly in the background. Seeing it recognized publicly made the entire journey feel even more meaningful.

A Short Look at the Project

Carbo has been part of the industrial world for more than 45 years. The company manufactures ceramic balls used in high-pressure systems, where even small inconsistencies can affect entire operations. At VALMAX, we took on the full rebrand and built a digital platform that explains how Carbo’s product works and where it’s used across different industries.

The project brought together a new identity, an updated visual system, and a website with more than fifty custom pages. We also developed 3D product visuals to demonstrate material behaviour and performance, along with video content that helps explain the product and its applications more clearly. Each part was designed with the user in mind, making it easy for engineers, buyers, and partners to find what they need without having to sift through complicated document

You can view the full case here: Web Design for a Manufacturing Company

How the Lantern Awards Unfolded

Carbo was selected as one of the projects recognized at the Lantern Awards, and it became a special moment for our team. Industrial projects don’t often end up on award stages, so seeing this one acknowledged felt meaningful. The evening brought together people from different corners of the industry, with a focus on work that genuinely supports real business processes rather than follows a trend.

The judges liked that Carbo’s platform explains its specialized product clearly and simply. They mentioned the website’s scale, the depth of information, and how it keeps everything organized even when the content becomes complex. The system lets professionals working with this product find what they need quickly, without unnecessary steps.

For us, this was especially valuable to hear, the scale of Carbo’s platform required months of coordinated work across design, content, and research.

Our CEOs, Vlad Bahatskyi and Max Vielkov, were there to accept the award for the team. It was a proud moment, considering how much coordination, research, and quiet behind-the-scenes work went into shaping the Carbo platform into what it is today.

What This Award Reflects About Our Work

The Lantern Awards recognition became an important moment for this project. Carbo’s work usually stays out of view and rarely ends up anywhere near an award stage. That is why hearing this project announced among the selected ones felt genuinely special for the whole team.

For Carbo, the award showed that even a complex, technical product can be explained clearly and in a way that helps people work faster and with more confidence. The platform gives users the information they need without extra steps and this straightforward clarity was exactly what the judges noticed.

For our team at VALMAX, the recognition felt like a quiet confirmation of the approach behind the project. We built the platform through structure, research and many careful decisions that shaped how everything works together. Seeing this effort appreciated from the outside was a moment we truly valued.