The creative showcase that is the annual Design Indaba manages to wow audiences every year with speakers that challenge you as an individual, even if you're not a designer. Future trends using nature and animals as inspiration and natural materials paled in comparison to the social responsibility thread that was woven throughout the week of inspiration. Wear your heart on your sleeve: all the schmaltz from Valentines Day might be over, but hearts are big - in jewellery, on clothing and in design... and designing with your heart is the only way to save the world, according to futurist and design activist Alex Steffan, who wants all creative people and designers to seriously tackle the redesign of the world to save our species and the many others we share this planet with. And if you've seen the phenomenal Al Gore movie, An Inconvenient Truth, you will know why. If you haven't, make sure it's at the top of your list of must-see movies. Designing with a conscience - in fact, living and working and playing with a conscience - and dumping products that have dubious origins or harm the environment is the way of now, as our future is already here and it ain't looking so pretty inside. Here's only one fact in the calamity that is being forecast by activists and scientists: we face having polar bears going extinct in our lifetimes... do any of us want that? Read more about what Steffan had to say below. Let's all try make a difference! Louise Marsland, editor: editor@bizcommunity.com