Is Not Magazine. The 1.5 x 2m poster-format magazine has been flyposted bi-monthly at 50 sites across central Melbourne since April 2005. Each issue combines two themes, in these examples ‘Beatles & Stones’ and ‘Bigger & Better’, and features a mix of fiction and non-fiction.
The poster format is an ingenious way of avoiding the usual problems of distribution, but also gives the editors freedom to play with the magazine form. Each issue is a two-colour collage of articles, drawings and diagrams, with a grid reference system providing navigation via a contents list. There are spaces for people to add their own content, crosswords to be completed communally, and mini-stories designed to be stored on your mobile phone camera and read later.
Until now Is Not Magazine has only been available in he backstreets of downtown Melbourne, but issue four (’Young & Free’) has just been repackaged as Is Not Takeaway No1. This booklet version of the original poster gives a good idea of the actual content. There’s a political piece about new anti-terrorism laws, a book review, a piece about nappy fetishism, interviews and a comic strip.
The magazine gets much of its unique visual appearance from its arrangement to exclusively use only fonts from the Underware foundry.
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