OUGD502 - Studio Brief 2 - Colours May Vary

Colours May Vary 

Colours May Vary is an independent design shop within Leeds which has a focus on selling design publications. The shop stocks books and magazines on a range of things including graphic art and design, typography, illustration and product design. They also supply stationary, homewares and gifts. They source items locally and internationally from both new and established designers but also aim to support other independents within Leeds. The shop has an events space where exhibitions, events and workshops are all hosted.

Things that are interesting about Colours May Vary:

- There is a wide variety of disciplines covered within the shop and its publications allowing people access to a range of subjects within design and the arts and keep up to date with these. 

- The shop aims to stock things from both new designers and established which allows graduates and newcomers to be found which raises the profile of artists and designers within the city.

- Many of the things sold in Colours May Vary are quirky and playful which is engaging.

- There is a focus within the shop of supplying things that wouldn't be found elsewhere within the city which makes it a place to visit for something unique.

https://coloursmayvary.com/pages/about-us

Colours May Vary Questions

What are your backgrounds from before Colours May Vary?

What led you to opening up Colours May Vary?

Do you both have different roles within the business?

How long did it take for you to establish yourselves as a business and how have you developed?

How do you discover and source products for your shop?

When curating and sourcing products for your shop, what do you look for?

What is the toughest part of running a business like Colours May Vary?

What is the highlight of working at Colours May Vary?

Response 

Becky Palfery from Colours May Vary 

Thanks for getting back. We are actually in the process of writing up a blog post which covers nearly all these questions as we do get asked them a lot! 

We thought it might be easier to post them up. 

Basically, it is really hard work running a bricks and mortar store. It is expensive and balancing time is hard with constant visits from customers. 

If you are considering opening any kind of retail outlet be it online or a physical shop our main piece of advice would be not to copy what is already out there. Don't assume other businesses doing something 'similar' are thriving and copy what they do. 

Innovate and make a point of being different. There are a lot of stationery outlets, office supplies and similar. What would make you different? Do you have a marketing budget the size of Papersmiths? (we don't). If not don't try and compete. Carve your own niche, that could be own brand product etc. 

I'll give you a shout when we post the blog!