The development of stationary patterns on a thin polymer surface subject to an electric field is studied by means of the hexagonal-planform weakly nonlinear stability analysis and numerical simulations. The time evolution of the interface between the air and the polymer film on the unbounded spatial domain is described by a thin film equation, incorporating the electric driving force and the surface diffusion. The nonlinear interfacial growth includes the amplitude equations and superposition of one-dimensional structures at regular orientations. The pattern selection is driven by the subcritical instability mechanism in which the relative thickness of the polymer film plays a critical role. © 2011 Shanghai University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.