Shame
Dominic Hofstede

It’s a shame.
It’s a shame we’re all so anxious.
It’s a shame we feel like imposters.
It’s a shame awards don’t seem worth the effort.
It’s a shame when the best mockup wins.
It’s a shame our sketchbooks have no sketches.
It’s a shame our bookshelves have no books.
It’s a shame we prefer on-screen, not in-person.
It’s a shame big headphones have replaced small talk.
It’s a shame we leave taste to the algorithms.
It’s a shame our value is invisible to those that pay the bills.
It’s a shame we choose to castigate, rather than to educate.
It’s a shame everyone now thinks they are a designer.
It’s a shame everyone now has an opinion on design.
It’s a shame everyone’s opinion is indulged.
It’s a shame we’re so keen to join the pile-on.
It’s a shame ‘graphic designer’ isn’t cool enough anymore.
It’s a shame we don’t trust our instincts more.
It’s a shame mood boards have replaced ideas.
It’s a shame promise often ends in compromise.
It’s a shame we now do everything, but nothing as well as before.
It’s a shame it all looks pretty much the same.
It’s a shame we’ve become so negative.
It’s a shame.


Dominic Hofstede
Mucho

Dominic Hofstede’s extensive and varied career in graphic design has included practice, writing, research and teaching. His Melbourne studio Hofstede Design (1996–2015) was renowned for its commitment to typographic craft.

Following a three-year period as Executive Creative Director for MAUD Melbourne, he joined the international design studio Mucho in 2020 as its first Australian partner.

In 2009 he established Re:collection, an online archive of Australian graphic design between 1960 and 1990. In 2014 he was appointed as an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Monash Art Design and Architecture.

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