A good design is innovative. Good design can be innovative with technology or without it, but it requires hard work and creativity to produce truly innovative designs.
We should be transparent about what goes into our process so that our clients can understand how we work. This also helps them to understand why certain things are done the way they are if they don't know already. Designers usually have their own ethics around how they want to work and this should always be respected, but the client should always be able to provide feedback on what is expected of their product or service.