Quite often I used to come across the same issue that Don raised, albeit I think that the general understanding in the business community that there are "other" type of designers has certainly evolved over the last few years.
When engaging with industry, I mainly use the term "innovation" in order to explain what do we do. I also use words like "evidence-based research and strategy" to describe the design framework in our design school. We still do "traditional" design work when the project calls for it, and we do not compromise on the aesthetic or functional aspect of design, but we try to transcend that - hence why I use the word "innovation" to describe what we do. We have adjusted our approach to teaching design as well in order to balance both traditional design and design-led innovation. (We do not compromise one on the account of the other, by the way).
We work on many high-profile industry sponsored projects and i run Executive Education programs for Fortune 500 companies that revolve around "innovation", and I have to say that adapting evidence-based research has been critical in establishing a level of accountability that has not been much present in design in the past (at least in the eyes of the corporate sector). Hence, nowadays, my book "Research for Designers" can also be found in the design libraries of Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Nike, Amazon, Facebook, General Motors, etc.
That's why I think that Tonjgi University has a good name for their College - Design & Innovation. They cover both ends really well :)
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Dr. Gjoko Muratovski
Director and Endowed Chair: The Myron E. Ullman, Jr. School of Design
College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP)
University of Cincinnati, USA
Seed Consultant: Stanford University (USA)
Fellow, Designers Institute (New Zealand)
Guest Professor, Tongji University (China)
Visiting Professor, Copenhagen Business School (Denmark)
Visiting Professor, University of Zagreb (Croatia)
Scholar-in-Residence, Fallingwater Institute (USA)
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Academia: http://uc.academia.edu/GjokoMuratovski
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gjokomuratovski
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