November Issue of WOW out

The November Issue of Lougborough Students Athletic Unions magazine WOW is now out. The magazine has interviews with current Loughborough student Richard 'Smudge' Smith, who recently won the EuroHockey Championships with England in Holland. Smudge and England, which include 4 ex-Loughborough Students including current captain Barry Middleton beat the Olympic Champions Germany in the final 5 - 3.

The issue also features articles on the currently high flying Loughborough Students Tennis team, the Students Womens Football side and an article on encouranging students to drink more water, 'winter warmer'.

WOW will be released online next week, so keep an eye out here for the link.

November Newsletter

The new 5or6 newsletter for November is out, to view it click here.

Lightning Strikes 5or6

On the 21st of November, Loughborough Lightning have their season lauch for the new Sky Sports Netball Super League. We are working closely with Lightning to produce all of the design work for the event. This includes a 24 page programme, poster, fliers, efliers and TV banner ads.

Twittering About

What can you actually do with Twitter? It's just status updates isn't it? These are questions we get asked all the time by companies, individuals and friends, and they are valid questions. To many Twitter does seem like a status update site, due in part to the question in your 'status' box, "What are you doing?", yet the what the box should really say is " What have you got to share with others?".

If you treat your status update as a way of sharing useful information with others then it opens a whole new dimension. Why not share a link to your company website, or blog that you find interesting, if others find it useful they may re-tweet, sending you link out to many more people. Twitter can be a very powerful tool to connect yourself or company with a much wider range of people, with out spending thousands.

There is a reason why millions have embraced Twitter, it gives you a chance to connect with thousands if not millions of people in 140 characters, give it a go, you never know what might come of it.

Well done Ilkeston!

On Saturday Ilkeston beat Tamworth to progress to the first round proper of the FA Cup. Ilkeston had to overcome a strong Tamworth side who are a league above them in the Blue Square Conference. Yet the Blue Square Northern Conference side came out on top 2 - 0 winners.

It is the first time in 10 years that the Robbins have made it to the first round proper and have been drawn against another strong side, in former league side Cambridge United.

The game will take place on Saturday the 7th of November at Cambridge's R Costings Abbey Stadium.

5or6 + ICP = A great design

For the last 2 weeks we have been putting together a web concept for Ideal Chemical Products (ICP), the sealants and adhesives specialists. ICP have been established since 1988, supplying the highest grade products to building contractors all over the country, with there products being used in the construction of the new Wembley and the renovation of the Docklands.

ICP are looking to create an ecommerece website that can supply there building grade products to the everyone. 5or6 have been tasked with designing a website that is accessible to everyone, easy to use yet modern and inviting.

The website will be launched at the begining of December, keep checking back for more information.

Charnwood Sports Awards '09 Tickets go out!

The tickets for the Charnwood Sports Awards '09 have gone out this morning to everyone that has been nominated for an award.  The event is in 2 weeks so all the design work is coming together, with the programmes for the event, along with the video being produced at the moment.

We have also sponsored an award for the event, the prestigious 'Senior Sportsperson of the Year' award.

WOW what a week

After a lot of hard work the second issue of Loughborough Univeristies Athletic Union magazine WOW is out. The design went to the printers on Monday afternoon and the magazine has been placed on the shelves today.

The issue featured Chicargo Bulls and GB star Luol Deng, as well as features on the Students Rugby League side and Women's Rugby Union squad.

Deng was in Loughborough over the summer with his basketball camp, and was kind enough to do an interview for the magazine. He expressed his expectations for 2012, this season for the Bulls and what he hopes to achieve in the future.

If you want to have a look through the magazine it has been placed on myebook by the Students Union.

Charnwood Sports Awards Tickets

The Charnwood Sports Awards tickets are in and are being sent out on Monday morning to everyone who has been nominated and invited to the event. Here at 5or6 we are sponsoring one of the awards and when we find out which one we will let you know.

CSA'09

The Charnwood Sports Awards 2009 are nearly upon us. The logo has been chosen and the programme and video for the event are being put together as we speak. This year has seen some very high profile sports men and women from the borough being nominated for awards. Swimming World Record holder Liam Tancock, who trains at the University is up for Loughborough University Student Sport Award with fellow Swimming World Record holder Jo Jackson.

For more information on the event click here, yet for more information on the events design work keep checking back here.

Thinking inside the box - Are branding guidelines a restriction on creativity?

All designers will know that when designing for a client there can be some perceived pit falls, namely the dreaded creativity destroying, 'brand guidelines'... Brand guidelines can seem like such a restriction on ones imagination, you always have to stick to the guide. You're never allowed to 'think outside the box' or 'push the envelope' so to speak. Yet is having guidelines such a restriction? Are they terribly detrimental to the overall design?

I have always found having a simple set of rules to govern or guide my design work, an aid rather than a hindrance. I often find myself setting out simple rules for myself when I begin a project, that way I can focus on what the client really wants. This way it stops me from getting carried away with what I really what from it, and there is often a big difference between the two. Remember rules can give order, direction and a purpose to a design.

So next time you're given 'brand guidelines' or restrictions from a client, boss or even a friend don't think of them as a hindrance. They're there to focus your design talents on what is really needed from the finished product, customer satisfaction.

Rolling with the times...

Being a design consultancy and constantly having to search out new technologies out there, you often stumble across a few gems (and quite a few pieces of deadwood), that not only aid your work yet make it easier and far far quicker. At the moment the most popular net based technology we use here is Netvibes, with this you can have all your social networking pages (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs etc.) all on one page, along with almost anything else that you find interesting, for me thats BBC Sport and Sky News. This makes it so much easier to update everything in one go and get your voice out there on the net. Social Networking is one of the fast growing ways to connect to your customer and having a platform in which you can reach them instanly is always a plus! So give Netvibes a go, or you can always search out your own Social Networking gem, it will save you time, effort and most certainly stop you from seeing that frustrating little character the Twitter 'Fail Whale'.

The New 5or6 Blog!

Hello everyone! This is the new Blog for 5or6. We are a design consultancy based in Loughborough England. We specialise in print and web design, with clients ranging from small local buisness to large national governing bodies. We will be posting all our most recent work on here, our Twitter profile and our Facebook page, so keep your eyes peeled.