Throughout next year, the Design Museum in London is set to present seven exhibits exploring multiple platforms of design. In addition, there will be a series of educational workshops, activities, talks and late-night events to encourage fun and participation, interaction and debate.

Here’s a look at what you can expect in the upcoming year:

Design Museum Collection: Extraordinary Stories About Ordinary Things, Begins Jan. 30

The Design Museum has the UK’s only collection devoted exclusively to contemporary design and architecture. This new collection display reveals intriguing insights found in these exceptional, as well as everyday, items.  

Six design stories are presented in the exhibition, offering a diverse look at design: National Identity, Plastics, Modernism, An Archetype – The Anglepoise Lamp, A Designer in the Spotlight and Style Through The Decades. National Identity looks at the objects that define a nation such as the phone box, road signage, the post box, the London 2012 logo and a Euro coin. The dominance of plastic in our lives is examined with examples of luxury through to everyday plastics from the last 75 years. Modernism in Britain provides a snapshot of a remarkable and dynamic period of design, shown through furniture, products, textiles and architecture, alongside contextual images and documents.

The designer Jasper Morrison, whose Handlebar Table is a recent acquisition to the collection, will also go on display for the first time. And style is shown through a collection of fashion from the 70s to the 90s and charts the shift of the shopper from Carnaby Street to Kings Road to Bond Street. Rich, thought provoking and surprising, let the museum’s collection tell you extraordinary stories about ordinary things.

United Micro Kingdoms (UmK): A Design Fiction, Jan. 30 – April 28

UmK presents multiple perspectives on a fictional future for the United Kingdom, as imagined by designers and educators Anthony Dunne & Fiona Raby. The exhibition sees England devolved into four self-contained counties, each free to experiment with governance, economy and lifestyle. These 'live laboratories' interrogate the cultural and ethical impact of existing and new technologies and how they alter the way we live.

Dunne and Raby use elements of industrial design, architecture, politics, science and sociology to provoke debate around the power and potential of design. UmK challenges assumptions about how products and services are made and used, through reinterpretations of the car and other transport systems.

Designs of the Year 2013, March 20 – July 7

The Design Museum’s Designs of the Year awards showcase the most innovative and imaginative designs from around the world, spanning seven categories: Architecture, Digital, Fashion, Furniture, Graphics, Transport and Product. A high profile judging panel will decide the best entries in each of the seven categories and one overall winner. Category award winners and the overall winner will be decided by a jury on March 25 to be announced to the public on April 17.

Some previous winners include: The London 2012 Olympic Torch, designed by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, commissioned by the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympics Games; Plumen 001 by Samuel Wilkinson and Hulger; Folding Plug designed by Min-Kyu Choi; and Barack Obama Poster by Shepard Fairey.

Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, May 8 – August 25

London 2012 Olympic Torch designers Barber and Osgerby present an unconventional view on the production of everyday objects. The exhibition will explore the aesthetic of the unfinished, from a trumpet bell to a tennis balls and a £2 coin, as well as pieces from Barber Osgerby's portfolio.

The designers' multidisciplinary practice challenges the boundaries of industrial design, architecture and art. Working with manufacturers, engineers and factories is integral to the development of the studio’s award-winning projects. This intimate relationship with the making process influences and inspires their work, enabling an explorative approach to materials. Presenting objects that have been intercepted mid-manufacture, the exhibition seeks to give an insight into the ‘mystery’ of modern production.

Making the Future: A New Industrial Revolution, July 24 – November 3

This exhibition, presented in association with the Technology Strategy Board, explores our changing relationship with the designed world. The exhibition will look at what drives innovation and new manufacturing techniques that can increase growth and productivity. The exhibition presents today's emerging technologies that will become the growth sectors of tomorrow.

Designers in Residence, September 11 – January 5, 2014

The Design Museum continues to support the next generation of designers and creatives with its Designers in Residence program. This exhibition showcases the work of young designers at the beginning of their careers: recent alumni include Giles Miller, Asif Khan and Bethan Laura Wood. The program includes a series of events and talks, offering the designers the opportunity to interact and engage with the public, whilst using this platform as a test-bed for ideas, designs and innovations.

Paul Smith, November 20 – March 2, 2014

In a career spanning over forty years, Paul Smith has become one of Britain’s foremost designers. The Paul Smith brand is known for an unmistakable classic Englishness augmented with a colorful ‘twist’. It now includes fourteen different collections for men and women, with shops in sixty-six countries across the world. Smith remains fully involved in all aspects of the business from designing the clothes to choosing the fabrics and approving the shop locations and design.

This Design Museum exhibition explores how Smith’s unique and intuitive take on design, coupled with an understanding of the importance between designer and retailer, have laid the foundations for the company’s lasting success. The exhibition charts the company’s development from Smith’s first shop in Nottingham, measuring just three by three meters, to its now global scale with shops in London, Paris, Milan, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Antwerp, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea, U.A.E. – and over 200 throughout Japan.

The exhibition is presented through the different stages of design and production behind a catwalk collection, offering great insight into Smith’s design and marketing process. Visitors will gain a key insight into Smith’s passions, his attention to detail and a detailed look at a year in his life. It will also focus on the unique energy and vision of Smith himself. What drives him as a designer and the significant items, people and places that have inspired him during his career. A section will also be dedicated to Smith’s shop designs, from a shocking pink building with movie set styling on Melrose Avenue, LA, to a Japanese garden at the heart of the Jingumae store in Tokyo.