We’ve just published our second print extra, Altered States, looking at the question of how much influence autocratic governments have over democratic life.
It follows up on last year’s pilot, The Long Game, an anthology on why democracy seems to be struggling so much around the world.
One of our interpretations of The Signal is that it’s an analog brand in a digital age. What we first meant by this is the understanding that we’re building The Signal directly for our people—not for algorithmic platforms that cultivate fear and anger, that sell certainty and suppress curiosity, or that ultimately want to foster addiction and isolation over companionship, resiliency, and hope.
But we quickly realized, what we were saying had a more direct meaning: We love analog things. We love vinyl records, we love beautiful objects, and we love print.
- Print, in particular, because it’s a real sensory experience. We don’t just see it; we can touch it, feel it, smell it, even.
- Because it gives us something we can focus on and care about rather than luring us into infinite distractions.
- And because it can give us a special opportunity to build our capabilities to think independently and connect what we’re reading to our purposes.
Our first forays in print are what we call extras—special-edition, limited-run, newsprint magazines on individual themes, which allow us to go deep into topics we care about. Each edition will have not only its own topic but its own, distinctive design approach. But all editions will be part of the quintessentially Signal experience.
