Colours May Vary is an independent book shop and event space based in Leeds stocking a collection of design, illustration, photography and lifestyle books. Run by Andy Grey and Becky Palfrey.
Website: http://www.colours-may-vary.com/
I interviewed Becky Palfrey for some primary research for my dissertation and her opinions on the digital era and publication today. I recored the interview in the Colours May Vary shop.
Questions and Answers:
What impact has the
digital era had on publication today?
What is your opinion
on this? Do you think the digital era will take over?
No, I don’t think the
digital era will take over. It has had an impact any set of statistics would
prove that, that the percentage of digital book sales are on the increase, but
I don’t think it has replaced anything. I think that maybe five years ago we
started to buy eBooks, with kindles and what not. It’s a difficult thing to
quantify, there will be statistics on book sales and it does grow year upon
year he sales of eBooks but I don’t think that most publishers would say that
they are dying because of it I think it’s the sort of publication that thrives
on the digital medium, I think its novels and textbooks. Because what we do is
really visual it doesn’t impact us in the same way. There are little
publications that might have digital visions but its all about the quality,
production values and that kind of thing.
Do you think print has
more value than digital?
It depends what you
mean by value, I think intrinsic worth subjective and I think it depends on the
individual to how they quantify worth. If you own an album apposed to a digital
download you feel a connection with it, different way to adapt, it’s a tactile
thing, and also perceived value, like having ten pounds in your hand its nice
just having the real thing.
How and what makes you
select the magazines in Colours May Vary?
It’s a combination of
content and quality of production, usually the two things have to go hand in
hand. We’ve had a lot of submissions of publications that are beautiful but the
content is really poor and vice versa the content can be great but the overall
production is horrible.
As technology becomes
a bigger part of our lives do you think digital will ever replace print?
I would say not, I
would say that in the last four years there has been a boom in independent
publishing, especially artist books, photo books, journals there’s been a big renaissance
of that and there has also been a huge renaissance with things like letterpress
printing and the return to process.
Do you think people
are actually going back to those hand methods now because digital is getting
bigger?
I think yeah definitely,
I think that if you work with inertly with digital I think you are missing a
trick and I think that it helps ground you and it connects you with your design
in a different way and I think that the act of making something is very therapeutic
and very human and I think that is perhaps because of the use of digital things
being quite quick whereas you can print things for a long time and mark making
generally.
Is there anything we
can do to preserve print?
I suppose what’s
happening now, it’s a difficult one, because I was talking to somebody about
this and he was saying, if a method of production is defunct publishing is like
any other business, if its not profitable, then you have to move on, you have
to leave it behind.
Preserving something
for the sake of it, in the realm of museums and galleries maybe universities
and colleges to be sure that people know the history, but I think preserving
print I don’t know, it’s less about contentiously preserving and more about
using print as an expression of you, instead of doing it for the sake of preserving
it. Yeah, because its good I don’t think letterpress printing, people aren’t
doing it to preserve it they are doing it because it is the best way of working
with their art form and they enjoy it and get a satisfaction out of it.
Preserving is kind of sort of getting away from the point.
How has social media
enhanced colours may vary has a shop?
I don’t think we would
be here if it wasn’t for Instagram, I think Instagram is the one that has done
the most for us, in terms of followers and sales. We were talking to the College of Art students
last year about this, if you could show a bar chart of likes verses sales, you
would be horrified at how little a like translates to a sale. You know you
might have one hundred and fifty likes for an object but you only sell six or
ten. Its a vicarious thing its not a active tangible thing it’s a passing
thing. I have a love hate relationship with social media. I hate Facebook, absolutely
hate it, that’s why we very rarely post on Facebook, it’s the last thing on my
list, I know it would do us a world of good if I engaged with it more, but I
find it really difficult really clunky, just the whole way it is. Instagram has
always been great, but now Instagram is starting to change as well, I’m not sure
how long that’s going to last, but that’s the one that has been great for us. I
think its because its highly visual because you can just skim and share.
Do you think the
internet has enhanced creativity?
Of course yeah, I
don’t think you could argue that it has had negative effects. Its negatively
effective aspects of creativity I guess. The resource is available to people
and also the software that’s available for people to use and to share its just
incredible, its brilliant. But some days we would not to have the internet, some
days we love it. I couldn’t imagine life without it.
Do you think there is
any need for business cards anymore or flyer nowadays? Because of social media
and the digital landscape we live in.
We found that with
business cards its like the owning an album in a way, its when you give
somebody a business card that has been beautifully made, it tells a story. When
we opened we had beautiful foiled business cards made and they were really
expensive, but it made people go ‘oh!’. We didn’t have social media at that
point in time, it still nice now when you give people something that has been
designed, its something away from the muddle and the mess of social media. Its
like ‘this is me’, it’s a presentation. The business card is like an edit of
your philosophy I suppose in a way. I think they are still valuable.
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