There are many indications that Advanced Functional Materials is off to a great start. The journal has grown quickly from 6 issues in 2001 to 12 issues in 2002, and a 20% page increase is planed for next year to cater for the healthy increase in submission of quality manuscripts that the journal has experienced since its launch. Some further measures of the success of the journal are discussed in this Editorial and recent innovations that have been implemented to foster the quick development of the journal are presented.