AbstractThe front cover picture shows the clock tower, the “Campanile”, of Iowa State University where John Corbett did the ground‐breaking research in polar intermetallics that forms the basis of his Viewpoint in this cluster issue. Superimposed on this background are structures and data to visualize the broad scope of topic. The complexity of structure is displayed by the ternary rare‐earth cobalt gallides that contain interstitial atoms (top left, A. Mar et al.), a calcium‐poor intermetallic phase of the Ca/Ni/Ge system (top right from the lab of T. Fässler), and a single crystal of a polymorph of thallium nickel gallide (bottom right, J. Chan et al.). The potentially general synthesis of colloidal nanoparticles – Au3Li from the lab of R. E. Schaak – is outlined mid left. The groups of M. H. Whangbo and G. Miller devote their contributions to the theoretical aspects of bonding (depicted top centre, the plots showing Au–Au bonding and antibonding interactions in Dy2Au2In and mid right, the effects of ionic interactions on the structural properties of isoelectronic intermetallic compounds, respectively). Representative of the range of properties discussed is the magnetic susceptibility of Yb5Ni4Ge10 (bottom left, M. G. Kanatzidis et al.). We thank the authors for the use of the graphics from their papers on the cover.