I always forget that Launchpad even exists. I guess it doesn't now. I suppose it might be helpful if you just know "I need that app that looks like X" and don't actually recall the first two letters of the app's name.

Lol same. Wasn't there something like it in System 7 that also got deprecated. I think back then it was called "Launcher" ... https://apple.fandom.com/wiki/Launcher

Launching seems easy enough from Finder but you never know about innovation.