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The Design Museum's favorite works of 2013

The seeds of the future being sown today

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Gallery Photo: Designs of the Year 2014 shortlist
Gallery Photo: Designs of the Year 2014 shortlist

The Design Museum in London has revealed this year's nominees for its respected Designs of the Year awards. Previous winners have included Shepard Fairey's Barack Obama "Progress" poster, the London 2012 Olympic Torch, and the One Laptop Per Child designed by Yves Behar — while a discontinued Designer of the Year prize was handed to Jony Ive way back in 2003.

In among mentions of familiar brands and architects like Nest, Toyota, and Zaha Hadid, the 2014 selection includes obscure but worthy projects like Nigeria's floating school and Japan's Child Chemo House. The prevalence of Kickstarter projects is also notable, with Oculus Rift, the Bradley Timepiece, and Chineasy all being helped by successful campaigns on the crowdfunding hub.

Here you'll find a selection of the 76 nominations, all of which will be on show at the Design Museum from the end of March through August. A panel of as yet unannounced judges is in charge of picking seven category winners in the spring who will then compete for the overall prize in the summer. Patrons of the museum and people online won't be neglected, either, with a visitor vote determining the public's overall favorite and an online social vote pitting individual designs in a head-to-head popularity contest.

Designs of the Year 2014 shortlist

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Phonebloks by Dave Hakkens
More of an ethos than a full-fledged design, Dave Hakkens’ Phonebloks project urges smartphone manufacturers to unite around a single modular hardware platform. Instead of replacing millions of handsets every year because of one malfunctioning or obviated part, the Phonebloks idea is to simply replace the bad module and keep the device going. Google’s Project Ara team is now working on developing the specification for this platform, which could one day revolutionize the way we buy and upgrade our phones.