Parassita

Lacking an official distribution network, Parassita is an independent magazine about Italy that survives by hitchhiking, reaching Italian expats and Amsterdam residents through a slightly criminal guerrilla distribution strategy where it is secretly slipped inside existing books, magazines, and fanzines across bookstores, newsstands, and public spaces.

Designed for an international audience looking to connect with Italian culture, the magazine bypasses dusty travel clichés, using heavy data visualization, rigorous information design, and sharp visual narratives to dissect the country from an entirely fresh perspective.

Parassita was presented as the thesis project for the Master’s degree in Visual Communication and Multimedia Design at IUAV University of Venice, and it made me a proud mama because it completely subverts standard editorial design.

This was a completely rogue, one-person operation. I conceived the concept, mapped out the guerrilla distribution strategy, and handled every single layer of execution, including the research, copywriting, photography, editorial layout, and data visualisation.

The parasitic model meant designing under ridiculous, self-imposed physical constraints. To make infiltration work, the magazine was split into three separate pieces. To make things spicier, I restricted each sheet to a rogue format and its own strict duotone colour palette, because why not? When you limit yourself like that, your information hierarchy has to be super intentional and clear. Pulling this off solo required constantly shifting gears between strategy, meticulous research, and nitty-gritty asset production. Of course, I would change a lot of things now, but somehow this is still my precious.

• Conceived and launched an independent publication from raw concept to final print run as a solo creator.
• Orchestrated a parasitic distribution strategy that turned logistical limitations into a powerful concept.
• Owned the full creative stack, executing all research, copywriting, photography, and editorial layouts independently.
• Designed a strict duotone hierarchy to optimize complex data readability across separate editorial sections.
• Translated cultural identity into visual systems, transforming dense socio-political Italian data into engaging narratives for an international audience.