About Us

Big.

Even bigger than TV Hits when you unfold the Home and Away fold-out, says John Safran. Is Not Magazine is a magazine in the form of a 1.5m x 2m bill poster. It is the work of five young Melburnians, and from April 9, 2005, it has been on display at 50 outdoor poster sites in inner-city Melbourne. A year later, it launched in Sydney, and will soon appear at a café, bar, bookstore or laundromat near you.

Is Not is independently published, carries no advertisements and is, among other things, an experiment in publishing real content where people expect to find advertising. It’s a design challenge and a reading experiment; a paper saving device; a bastion of editorial complexity and a grey area for the discerning communal reader. It uses the city as a canvas and brings reading to life. Approach it from any angle; bend down curiously; lean in for a closer look; embark on a treasure hunt to find a story that ends in another location.

Is Not Magazine has no single editorial goal or ideology through which to filter content – instead it is a collection of different contributors’ perspectives and offers creative freedom to writers and illustrators. It is as much a piece of street art as a publishing project, and draws on Melbourne’s existing comic, stencil and street art culture. Though its heart is in Melbourne, it welcomes contributions from further afield and has featured t-shirt designs from Buenos Aires, architecture reviews from Helsinki, and short stories from Vermont.

It also allows readers to contribute in more unusual ways. Capture a 160-character ‘flash fiction’ story on your camera phone to read later, or text the magazine one yourself. Fill in the crossword. Write your thoughts on the poster. Is Not is a canvas awaiting your comments.

While each issue reaches thousands of readers in Melbourne, Is Not Magazine is developing many and varied supporters across Australia and internationally. It is available for purchase full size only. It is cheap at the price. It is unique in all the world.

Editorial Profiles

We are five people and our names are listed below. We are two boys and three girls. We are relatively young and quite handsome. One of us is American. We occasionally get along just fine. All of us are consumed by other full-time activities. Three of us are single and the other two are hopelessly in love with each other. We really wanted power-rangers style matching lycra suits for our photos but time and money didn’t allow.

Mel Campbell is a cultural critic, editor, blogger and journalist specialising in fashion, popular music and celebrity, and a satirical rap star called The Incredible Melk. Her first foray into magazine publishing was the pornographic The Prefty Book, for which she was sent to the principal’s office in 1986. She said the “naked ladies” were “artistic.”

Natasha Ludowyk is a part-time festival and events producer, part-time editor, part-time waitress and occasional writer. In whatever time remains to her she can be found on a dancefloor, asleep in bed, or engaged in spontaneous hare-brained schemes of which Is Not Magazine has proved the most enduring.

Stuart Geddes studied graphic design. He then started a graphic design studio. He also teaches graphic design. At the moment he is studying graphic design for the second time. And now he’s started a magazine (this involves some graphic design). Stuart is a Graphic Designer. Despite all this, he believes the world is a complex and interesting place.

Penelope Modra is a student of editing and of life. She abandoned her photography qualifications to pursue a life of postgraduate poverty and unpaid events management. For Penny, Is Not Magazine rolls these projects into one large nightmare.

Jeremy Wortsman was once the victim of a drive-by egging in Brooklyn. Having recovered from this incident with his street cred considerably enhanced, he lives in Melbourne, where he lectures in design, owns two pet rats named Rebecca and Enid, and drives his motorcycle in the bike lane. He is available for bar and bat mitzvahs and awkward first dates.