Among the many pleasures of putting together a magazine, there are two I especially prize. One is the exciting opportunity to gather a diverse group of viewpoints and bodies of work from throughout the field of design. These contributions enlarge my understanding of the profession, and I like to think this allows me to learn alongside readers. The other pleasure is purely personal: As an issue comes together, I get to witness themes and commentaries emerging that are often entirely unanticipated. The experience is existential.

Sometimes subtexts appear, or strange propinquities crop up. Unexpected associations between people and topics materialize. This happened in this issue with the subject of continuing education: On page 24, Christopher Simmons continues his column My First Time by discussing the experiences of designers who find themselves back in school (by the way, thanks to the many readers who have written to tell us how much they’re enjoying Christopher’s work). On page 40, it just so happens that we explore a unique continuing-education program for designers at Marywood University. Elsewhere in this issue, we profile the witty and provocative designer Steven Brower (page 96); in the course of preparing the article on the Marywood program, I discovered that Brower has taught in it for more than a decade. Silently thanking serendipity, I immediately sought him out for a quote.

A surprising theme that emerged while we were assembling this issue revolves around the topics of subversion, agitation ... and yes, even anarchy. In addition to the aforementioned profile of Steven Brower, whose work has been consistently controversial, we also recognize in this issue the 20th birthday of the unapologetically subversive Seattle firm Modern Dog (page 64). And as if that isn’t enough sand-raising, we also hear what pre-eminent design anarchist Kalle Lasn has been stirring up these days (page 80).

With all this sturm und drang, it’s probably fortunate that this issue is balanced with coverage that is a bit more, shall we say, mainstream. Packaging for consumer goods is not the usual platform for polemics or social commentary (although you wouldn’t know it from Modern Dog’s work for Blue Q), but packaging is deeply influenced by social change. It’s clearly of great advantage to designers to be in touch with how such change is affecting the latest trends in packaging. To help you sort it all out, Steven DuPuis, who heads a successful packaging design firm, thoroughly explores the latest trends in the medium, beginning on page 50.