Building the Better Lightbulb

Ah, the lightbulb.

And I don’t mean the incandescent lightbulb, which you won’t find around too much anymore. Too inefficient. Too hot.

Yet despite being obsolete, this glowing source of sudden sun remains the symbol of innovation and creativity.

When someone gets something, we say the lightbulb goes on.

But get this:

–       Light bulbs are fragile. Drop one and it shatters. Mishandle a bulb and you might break it.

–       Don’t touch a lightbulb that’s already on… it’s too hot!

–       And come on… like I said, we don’t even use incandescent light bulbs anymore!

When I asked my marketing students to develop a logo for our new campus innovation center, almost all of them prominently featured a lightbulb in their design.

To paraphrase the old quote: if everything is a lightbulb, then really, nothing is a lightbulb.

Or something like that.

So let’s get creative… what is a better symbol of innovation, of bright ideas and creativity, than the obsolete and easily-broken lightbulb?

What do you think?

See you tomorrow!