agIdeas 2011 International Design Week hits Melbourne from Sunday 1 May to Thursday 5 May 2011. Comprised of a variety of exciting events including breakfasts, seminars and workshops, the huge drawcard is the 3-day International Design Forum (3-5 May), where 40 internationally-acclaimed speakers share their ideas, inspirations and projects.

Here’s a sneak peak of few of the speakers to look out for:

Nick Bell
London-based designer Nick Bell has spent the last ten years collaborating with architects, exhibition curators and museum directors on a variety of projects. Put simply, his firm’s work is about organisations, communities and people connecting with who they are and what they want to be.

Susan Bonds, USA
Susan Bonds is a pioneer of innovative forms of immersive interactive crossplatform experiences and the driving force behind 42 Entertainment. She works to develop a new approach to engage audiences for events like launch of the Batman movie The Dark Knight.

Oslo Davis, Australia
Melbourne-based illustrator Oslo Davis is fast approaching cult status for his droll cartoons that depict the absurd, the mundane and the irritating, with hilarious results.

Christopher Doyle, Australia
Branding and advertising campaigns by Sydney-based designer Christopher Doyle have been recognised by D&AD, AWARD, AGDA, One Show and Cannes. His stated reason for being a designer is ‘so I can be part of change’.

Matt Hatton, Australia
Sydney illustrator and designer Matt Hatton has applied his skills across a wide range of projects, including the films Australia, I, Robot and Happy Feet; the mascots for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the Cricket World Cup 2011; and games design for Nintendo.

Stuart McLachlan, Australia
Stuart McLachlan is a widely travelled Australian illustrator whose skills are in constant demand for advertising illustration, character designs and editorial pieces. He’s also recently developed an innovative technique of paper styling that is gaining attention as an intricately elegant art form.

Scott Mellor, Australia
Scott Mellor is the founder of Thinktank Design, a niche design company with studios in Perth and Los Angeles, producing award-winning work for a broad portfolio of clients ranging from out-there clothing companies to international record labels.

Sanky, UK
Sanky is a co-director at AllofUs, a London-based interactive design agency that looks at how technology can work alongside more traditional areas of the creative industries. Creating digital TV channels for Renault, and in-store interactive installations for Nike and just released Foxtel on Xbox.

Something Slendid (James Yencken and Jonathon Bellew), Australia
Energetic Melbourne design studio Something Splendid, design arts festival campaigns, websites for cinemas and governments, interactive literary publications, and intricate paper models for all sorts of things.

To read about more speakers head to agIdeas’s website.

Tickets are now on sale.