this volume contains a number of mini-review articles authored by speakers and attendees at the ima workshop on pattern formation in continuous and coupled systems. pattern formation has been studied intensively for most of this century by both experimentalists and theoreticians. this workshop focused on new directions in the patterns literature. the goals were to continue communication between these groups, and to familiarize a larger audience with some of the newer directions in the field. systems that generate new types of pattern such as discrete coupled systems, systems with global coupling, and combustion experiments were stressed, as were new types of pattern. the mini-reviews in this volume are intended to be pointers to the current literature for researchers at all levels and therefore include extensive bibliographies. they are also intended to discuss why certain subjects are currently exciting and worthy of additional research.