WiMAX Forum

The WiMAX Forum was the industry group that certified wireless broadband equipment built to the WiMAX standard. Its members included chipmakers, equipment manufacturers and network operators, many of them competitors, each with its own brand. The Forum had to speak for all of them at once, and give every certified product, across many wireless bands and releases, a mark people could recognize.

Members needed room for their own brands, and the Forum needed to stay recognizable around them. That tension showed up everywhere the Forum appeared: on product packaging, in the catalogue of certified devices and on the show floor.

Design one frame that every member fits into, and use it everywhere.

As Creative Director from 2006 to 2010, on the Forum’s marketing team:

• The certification design language: one badge, with a release number and colour codes for each spectrum band, and the rules for clear space, size and placement that member companies applied to packaging, devices, websites and product literature.
• The WiMAX Product Guide: certified devices from dozens of manufacturers, from smartphones to outdoor equipment, presented in one consistent layout. The August 2010 edition ran to 84 pages and was the third.
• Tradeshow booths for shows in Europe, Asia and the Americas. At the WiMAX Forum Congress in Amsterdam, 2008: a central tower with wrap-around wall graphics and lit display kiosks. At ITU Telecom World in Geneva, 2009: member kiosks that carried each company’s logo inside the Forum’s design, a device showcase, a partner room and a presentation stage. The built booth followed the design closely.
• “Open Your World”: the campaign line and the globe mark.
• The Forum’s website, which I designed and managed, and its marketing materials.

The same work I do for a small business, at the scale of an industry: take something technical and give it a form people recognize and trust.

WiMAX, the WiMAX Forum logo and WiMAX Forum Certified are trademarks of the WiMAX Forum. Other logos belong to their owners.