Counterculture · 1978–1982 · Southern Europe
Il Male Newspaper-Forgery Satire
Also known as Il Male, Il Male fake front pages
The graphic voice of Il Male, the Roman satirical magazine of 1978-1982: forged front pages of real newspapers, photomontage and cartoons in a dense tabloid layout. It grew out of the left-wing milieu around the Movement of 1977, in the political tension of the late 1970s, and its fakes were sensational media pranks that could pass for the real paper. Unlike an original satirical tabloid such as O Pasquim, its signature is the counterfeit of an existing newspaper.
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01
How it works
- Counterfeit a real newspaper front page, masthead, columns and headline hierarchy included, then change the story.
- Pack the page with headlines, captions, cartoons and small print, so the joke rewards a second reading.
- Cut and paste press photographs into absurd new scenes, and let the halftone dots show.
- Draw satirical cartoons by hand and run them beside the montage.
Rome, Italy; Il Male, a tabloid-format political satire magazine published from February 1978 to 1982, from an idea by cartoonist Pino Zac with Tommaso Chiaretti as first editor, in the wake of the Movement of 1977
02
Its design choices
From Stylogeny’s vocabulary of design choices: defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.
- Layout & composition
- Space & hierarchy
- Form & shape
- Surface & texture
- Ornament
- Imagery
- Medium & production
- Tone & intent
- Avoids
- Modular grid, Central symmetry, Generous white space, Ornament-free, Gloss & highlights, Calm & contemplative, Luxurious & glamorous, Rational & objective
Palette
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#e8e0cc -
#161616 -
#c8231e -
#7d7a70 -
#e2b93b
Typefaces
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Newspaper mastheads imitated in the forgeries
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Newspaper headline lettering imitated in the forgeries
Known for
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Il Male (Rome, 1978-1982), conceived by Pino Zac; biweekly at first, later weekly
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Il Male's fake Corriere dello Sport front page
1978
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Il Male's fake Pravda, distributed in Russia
03
Make something in this style
Say what you need, and Stylogeny’s image studio draws it from Il Male Newspaper-Forgery Satire’s design choices and checks it against them. It takes about a minute, and you get a link to share.
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Where it comes from, and what it’s close to
Before it
The style it grew out of, and the styles it borrowed from.
After it
The styles that grew out of it.
No later style in the atlas grew out of it yet.
Alike in its design choices
Styles that make many of the same choices, related or not, besides those above.
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Often taken for
Il Male Newspaper-Forgery Satire has no real works recorded yet, so these are its nearest styles by its choices alone, with the choices that tell them apart.
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Cranbrook & Deconstructivist Typography
Cranbrook & Deconstructivist Typography is one of Il Male Newspaper-Forgery Satire’s nearest styles by choices; no real work of either fits the other better.
Choices that tell Il Male Newspaper-Forgery Satire and Cranbrook apart Choice Il Male Newspaper-Forgery Satire Cranbrook Halftone & Ben-Day dots defining occasional Broken grid — defining Naturalistic depiction characteristic — Experimental & distorted — defining Comic & cartoon characteristic — Both descend from Italian Futurism in the family tree.
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O Pasquim Satirical Press
O Pasquim Satirical Press is one of Il Male Newspaper-Forgery Satire’s nearest styles by choices; no real work of either fits the other better.
Choices that tell Il Male Newspaper-Forgery Satire and O Pasquim Satirical Press apart Choice Il Male Newspaper-Forgery Satire O Pasquim Satirical Press Photomontage defining — Light ground — characteristic Limited spot colours defining occasional Distortion & exaggeration — characteristic Collage & layering defining occasional No shared descent in the atlas: they reached these choices separately.
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Black Panther Party Graphics
Black Panther Party Graphics is one of Il Male Newspaper-Forgery Satire’s nearest styles by choices; no real work of either fits the other better.
Choices that tell Il Male Newspaper-Forgery Satire and Black Panther Party Graphics apart Choice Il Male Newspaper-Forgery Satire Black Panther Party Graphics Horror vacui defining occasional Stylised figuration — defining Naturalistic depiction characteristic — All caps — defining Found & vernacular imagery characteristic — No shared descent in the atlas: they reached these choices separately.
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Dada
Dada is one of Il Male Newspaper-Forgery Satire’s nearest styles by choices; no real work of either fits the other better.
Choices that tell Il Male Newspaper-Forgery Satire and Dada apart Choice Il Male Newspaper-Forgery Satire Dada Layered information defining — Rotated & vertical setting — defining Halftone & Ben-Day dots defining occasional Light ground — characteristic Naturalistic depiction characteristic — Il Male Newspaper-Forgery Satire descends from Dada: a shared line, so the likeness is inherited.
— means the choice isn’t among the style’s recorded choices. Critics recorded each work’s choices with the styles’ descriptions in view, so this shows whether the descriptions hold together, not proof that they are right.
06
Combine it with
Styles Il Male Newspaper-Forgery Satire pairs well with or plays against, from the research. Each is worked out as a combination: which style gives the type, the colours and the forms.
- Situationist Détournement Graphics Pairs well · Take the cut-up method and add the dense tabloid page to turn theory into a prank.
- O Pasquim Satirical Press Pairs well · Another satirical newspaper with cartoons; Il Male differs by forging real papers' front pages rather than publishing an original tabloid.
- International Typographic Style Contrasts · A calm grid and white space make the crammed, mocking page feel more chaotic.
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Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_Male
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movement_of_1977
- https://www.sbs.com.au/language/italian/en/podcast-episode/il-male-the-most-important-satirical-phenomenon-in-italy-after-the-war/s9zjw701a
- https://books.google.com/books/about/Il_Male.html?id=X3GKGAAACAAJ
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