Designs of the Year 2012 shortlist

Lightwood chair by Jasper Morrison, nominated in Furniture

London's Design Museum has announced the nominees of this year's Designs of the Year awards, which are divided  into seven categories - fashion, product, furniture, architecture, digital, transport and graphic.

The awards celebrate the outstanding projects of the last 12 months, including the Duchess of Cambridge's wedding dress by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen and the London 2012 Velodrome by Hopkins Architects. Read on for the Homebuildlife guide.

Alexander McQueen, Voss, spring/summer 2001; image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art © Sølve Sundsbø / Art + Commerce

Digital projects we have previously reported on include the Beck's Green Box project, and Tesco Homeplus's revolutionary virtual store, which allowed subway users to shop on their morning commute and receive their order at home that evening.

The Alexander McQueen exhibition Savage Beauty takes pride of place in the Fashion category, having been deemed "astonishing and inspirational" by our Arts & Culture team back in May.

Chassis by Stefan Diez for Wilkhahn, photo by Robert Fischer

In Furniture, nominees include Stefan Diez's Chassis chair (read how he was inspired to make it using technology from the automotive industry in our interview) while two RCA graduates feature: NSEPS (Not So Expanded Polystyrene) by Attua Aparicio and Oscar Wanless was one of the standout projects in our RCA graduation show report and Solar Sinter by Markus Kayser was our materials pick from the graduation shows.

Bethan Laura Wood at Gallery Nilufar, photo by James Harris

Bethan Laura Wood is nominated twice - for Moon Rock Tables and Totem. View our interview with the designer here, and then take a look at how she is leading the Post-Postmodernism movement.

Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby © Barber Osgerby, 2011. Courtesy Haunch of Venison. Photo: Peter Mallet

London 2012 Olympic torch designers Barber Osgerby are honoured both for their TipTon chair for Vitra, and Ascent - read about the exhibition here. Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec's Textile Field is also nominated in Furniture - and was one of our top 10 events of LDF 2011.

Botanica by Forma Fantasma at Milan Design Week 2011

Studio FormaFantasma's project Botanica is nominated in Product, and was one of our top ten exhibits at Milan in 2011, while Bertjan Pot is nominated for Heracleum - read an interview with the designer here, and then see why Moooi CEO Casper Vissers calls it's the most exciting product he's seen recently here.

Heracleum by Bertjan Pot for Moooi

Wider issues are addressed in the Transport category, with a number of electric cars nominated - as well as the Helen Hamlyn Centre's redesign of the emergency ambulance. Read about the project, alongside other big ideas for our future, in our coverage of If Conference ideas.

Read the full shortlist here.