Not so long ago, a conversation about “patterning” would almost invariably have focused on morphogens and other developmental signals that induce gene expression to carve out territories of specified cells from within a larger undifferentiated mass of tissue. The last five or ten years have seen extraordinary progress in shifting that emphasis to a much wider variety of patterns. In this issue, we represent some of that diversity, using both review articles and primary research to illustrate the point.Consistent with the emphasis of this journal on cellular dynamics as a common language—for cell biology, development, homeostasis, and regeneration—one important theme that has emerged in the field of patterning is the role of cell shape and polarity in the regulation of larger patterns and architectures controlling cell fate and behavior. One can see many examples of this in culture (Cadart et al., 2014xCadart, C., Zlotek-Zlotkiewicz, E., Le Berre, M., Piel, M., and Matthews, H.K. Dev. Cell. 2014; 29: 159–169Abstract | Full Text | Full Text PDF | PubMed | Scopus (24)See all ReferencesCadart et al., 2014) and in vivo (Huang and Niehrs, 2014xHuang, Y.-L. and Niehrs, C. Dev. Cell. 2014; 29: 250–257Abstract | Full Text | Full Text PDF | PubMed | Scopus (6)See all ReferencesHuang and Niehrs, 2014). The converse of this principle is that local regulation of fundamental cellular properties (e.g., Lacroix et al., 2014xLacroix, B., Bourdages, K.G., Dorn, J.F., Ihara, S., Sherwood, D.R., Maddox, P.S., and Maddox, A.S. Dev. Cell. 2014; 29: 203–216Abstract | Full Text | Full Text PDF | PubMed | Scopus (4)See all ReferencesLacroix et al., 2014) must be an essential component of any complete view of patterning. The increasing sophistication in our understanding of how individual cellular properties and behaviors contribute to the larger organismal bauplan, however, comes at a cost: the computational demands of describing (as in Short et al., 2014xShort, K.M., Combes, A.N., Lefevre, J., Ju, A.L., Georgas, K.M., Lamberton, T., Cairncross, O., Rumballe, B.A., McMahon, A.P., Hamilton, N.A. et al. Dev. Cell. 2014; 29: 188–202Abstract | Full Text | Full Text PDF | PubMed | Scopus (37)See all ReferencesShort et al., 2014), integrating, and modeling (see Bentley et al., 2014xBentley, K., Philippides, A., and Ravasz Regan, E. Dev. Cell. 2014; 29: 146–158Abstract | Full Text | Full Text PDF | PubMed | Scopus (7)See all ReferencesBentley et al., 2014) all of these interrelated mechanisms are considerable.However, the challenge doesn’t end in a system at steady state. Dynamics continue, and there are different types of hurdles that those dynamics impose, at every timescale imaginable. During a single cell cycle, the temporal architecture must accommodate changes in energy consumption (e.g., Wang et al., 2014xWang, Z., Fan, M., Candas, D., Zhang, T.-Q., Qin, L., Eldridge, A., Wachsmann-Hogiu, S., Ahmed, K.M., Chromy, B.A., Nantajit, D. et al. Dev. Cell. 2014; 29: 217–232Abstract | Full Text | Full Text PDF | PubMed | Scopus (28)See all ReferencesWang et al., 2014), as well as radical reorganizations of the cytoskeleton (Needleman and Brugues, 2014xNeedleman, D. and Brugues, J. Dev. Cell. 2014; 29: 135–138Abstract | Full Text | Full Text PDF | PubMed | Scopus (3)See all ReferencesNeedleman and Brugues, 2014) and chromatin (Zaret, 2014xZaret, K.S. Dev. Cell. 2014; 29: 132–134Abstract | Full Text | Full Text PDF | PubMed | Scopus (8)See all ReferencesZaret, 2014). In the course of a few days of embryonic development, the interplay between partially specified territories, tissue growth, and signaling centers can impose stark constraints on each other (Zhulyn et al., 2014xZhulyn, O., Li, D., Deimling, S., Vakili, N.A., Mo, R., Puviindran, V., Chen, M.-H., Chuang, P.-T., Hopyan, S., and Hui, C.-c. Dev. Cell. 2014; 29: 241–249Abstract | Full Text | Full Text PDF | PubMed | Scopus (14)See all References, Li et al., 2014xLi, D., Sakuma, R., Vakili, N.A., Mo, R., Puviindran, V., Deimling, S., Zhang, X., Hopyan, S., and Hui, C.-c. Dev. Cell. 2014; 29: 233–240Abstract | Full Text | Full Text PDF | PubMed | Scopus (17)See all References), and some of these same mechanisms and relationships may play out again, over the course of weeks, during a regenerative response to injury (Tornini and Poss, 2014xTornini, V.A. and Poss, K.D. Dev. Cell. 2014; 29: 139–145Abstract | Full Text | Full Text PDF | PubMed | Scopus (13)See all ReferencesTornini and Poss, 2014). Finally, no discussion of patterning is complete without considering the evolutionary timescales involved in modulating and rewiring those patterns to enable new architectures and new functions (e.g., Jung et al., 2014xJung, H., Mazzoni, E.O., Soshnikova, N., Hanley, O., Venkatesh, B., Duboule, D., and Dasen, J.S. Dev. Cell. 2014; 29: 171–187Abstract | Full Text | Full Text PDF | PubMed | Scopus (16)See all ReferencesJung et al., 2014; see also the related Preview by Mallo, 2014xMallo, M. Dev. Cell. 2014; 29: 130–131Abstract | Full Text | Full Text PDF | PubMed | Scopus (1)See all ReferencesMallo, 2014).We hope you will enjoy this issue’s survey of modern adventures in biological pattern. As it happens, this month Dev Cell is also exploring some architectural changes of its own. Some of these changes are more visible than others, and many of you will have already seen that the Dev Cell website recently moved to a new platform with more room to grow and diversify the architectures of information that we provide. Please let us know what you think of the new website, and share any ideas you have for new features you’d like to see there, by contacting us at devcelleditor@cell.com or by e-mailing me directly at dwainstock@cell.com.On a more personal note, the editorial architecture of the journal is also changing this month. As many of you know, Anne Knowlton joined us three years ago; she split her time between animal cell biology at Dev Cell and plants at Current Biology. Anne has now decided to focus all of her energies on Current Biology. We are sad to see her go but have the good fortune to welcome back a longtime colleague, Ilil Carmi, in Anne’s place. Ilil was a member of the team that founded Dev Cell in 2001 and has helped us in many capacities over the years. So for many of you, as authors and reviewers, the new face on the Dev Cell team will also be a familiar one.I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Anne for all the effort and enthusiasm she has invested in the journal over the last three years, and to welcome Ilil back to the fold. 2014 has already proven to be an exciting year here at the journal, and we are looking forward to the rest of it. I hope you are, too!