“Please welcome to the stage the very innovative Bela Fleck”

Believe it or not, those are not the words I’d want to be introduced by. Every week I see a new article about the secret(s) of innovation. And then articles dissecting the word, suggesting better words, lauding innovation, deploring it. At the least, it’s fatiguing. But often I think it’s just barking up the wrong tree.

Don’t get me wrong: I find nothing categorically wrong with innovation. How could I, right? But as a designer, 90% of the time I’d rather do something really damn well than do something that’s innovative. I like much of Bela Fleck’s music, but I hope we’re not celebrating the man because he can make pitch-perfect quail calls with his banjo or because he’s sure to be the all-time best-selling heavy metal banjo crossover artist of all time. Innovative (if a bit hyperbolic), but not necessarily great.

There’s nothing innovative about any of the design I do, save for (maybe) a CSS hack developed as a means to an end now and then, but I can’t see why there needs to be. I’m in the business of communicating content visually and interactively. I respect the designers who not only push the craft forward through excellence in execution, but actually push the medium forward through innovation. Maybe the iPad (e.g.) will really enable us to better communicate content. I’m not denouncing innovation, but if no one ever calls me “innovative” I’ll be totally okay, as long as someone calls me “really good.”