is not magazine

the new issue of "is not magazine" has been released recently. i am not sure that the picture i have uploaded actually conveys the true size of what has been billed as the largest format magazine in the world. my hand in the photo tries to give you a size point of reference. it is not just that i am an awful photographer. and by the way, i have big hands.


"is not magazine" brings to the fore a question covered earlier in this blog re what exactly is a magazine. the publication in question is obviously in poster format. yet, new issues come out at regular intervals and each has a similar format each time around. given that it so obviously looks like a poster and not a magazine, does the very name chosen by the founders of "is not magazine" indicate via a peverse reversal of logic that they in fact consider it to be a magazine?

one of the cool stories about "is not magazine" is that they once put in some random text into one of their articles. this text encouraged people to call in on the provided number and the first few callers would win a prize. i can't recall the exact details, but the prize was worth calling in for. no one did. one of the founders told this story at a lecture i attended as part of the "state of design" festival. just goes to show that content is not always king.

i found this quite funny, as quite a few people have been buying "is not magazine" from mag nation. people are buying it, yet no one is reading it? i guess i would buy it too if i didn't live in a shoe box. it makes great wallpaper. and it would make me feel cool too. like i am one of those few people in the know.

but given that I am a magazineologist by profession, perhaps i am being a traitor by liking "is not magazine". after all, it is not a magazine, is it?