Call it what you want but innovation doesn’t have to be dead.

It seems as if “design” has replaced “branding” as the most co-opted word in business. Because of this, innovation has become synonymous with the more pragmatic sides of our work – strategy, “design thinking,” buzz words. We’ve stripped the meaning of true innovation, the engine of humanity that has always been driven by art, design and science.

Today’s designers are notorious for trying to avoid accusations of “just making things pretty.” We are taught this throughout design school and on into the professional world, suggesting that form is unimportant, playing co-pilot to all-important strategy and research.

This thinking is shortsighted. It downplays the rich history of design and visual culture. Look all around you, are the buildings and high-rises in your city merely attractive? Is your Macbook or Kitchen Aid mixer or Aeron chair just for looks?

I think we’re back to realizing the importance of aesthetic value, not simply as a visual tool, but as an important driver of business goals. Over the past few years, the general consumer has become more aware of design and thus it’s impact. This is the type of innovation that inspires change, the innovation that integrates all facets of forward thinking, by combining art, science, intuition, emotion, and engineering, all the things that make us human.

By doing so, we can find a way to mix thinking with making, so that right-brained creativity and left-brained ingenuity can affect real innovation and propel our economy and culture into the best future.

As Dori Tunstall, design teacher and anthropologist, says: “There is an inherent intelligence to beauty, which is about the depth and passion we feel for the world.”

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