Yes, it's coming up to that time of the year again, when the great and good of the design world decamp to sunny Cape Town for one of the highlights of the conference year, Design Indaba. For 2008, the menu includes Ivan Chermayeff, Gert Dumbar and KarlssonWilker who will all be asked to tell the gathered masses how exactly "creativity can make a better world"...

That hopeful thought is the theme for this year's conference. To show us how, the organisers have enlisted the usual multinational line-up. Speakers include, from the US, conceptual artist, writer, and musician Paul D Miller – aka DJ Spooky the Subliminal Kid - and Ilse Crawford, founding editor of Elle Decoration, alongside veteran graphic designer and all-round legend Chermayeff (whose Chermayeff & Geismar studio created the NBC peacock, below, among many other iconic identities) and NY studio KarlssonWilker. The latter have just got back from South Africa where they were working on a project about their experiences in the country which will be presented at the conference.

Czech designer Maxim Velcovsky who earlier this year refurbished a Bohemian church using an eclectic mix of old and new (including Vernor Panton chairs with crosses punched through them instead of pews, shown above) will also be there, as will Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien from the UK.

Two leaders in design for technology are also expected. Although widely recognised for his industrial design feats (including the GoodGrips kitchen utensils), Tucker Viemeister now works across architecture, graphics and new media. And then there's Bill Moggridge, founder of IDEO and all-round interaction design guru.

The Dutch contingent numbers Dumbar plus South African-born car interiors designer Oona Scheepers, well known for her work at Audi, plus Marije Vogelzang who tackles bad eating habits by "recontextualising the ritual of food" apparently.

And from Japan, design anthropologist Shinichi Takemura explores the changes in social interactions caused by the widespread technological devices, while industrial designer Shunji Yamanaka bases his innovations on extensive psychological research.

Plus, we have product designer Toshiyuki Kita and graphic designer Hideki Inaba (work for Shu Uemura shown below).

Enough for you?

Design Indaba is on from 27-29 February. More details here. CR will, of course, be there and will be blogging throughout the week.