Giovanni Pintori

1. What it is — poster for an Olivetti calculating-machine campaign, 1949, offset lithograph, 95.5 × 66.5 cm (MoMA; AGI also lists 70 × 50). It does not advertise any specific model — not even the Divisumma 14 from the previous year (storiaolivetti.it).
2. Composition — the whole format is a "carpet" of digits of different sizes and typefaces, with no grid and no border; there is no band or field. The "olivetti" logotype sits slightly above centre, directly on top of the digits — around it the digits are darkened (grey on black), so the logotype separates by tone, not by frame.
3. Colour (measured, scan dark) — black ground 59%; digits grey, red, yellow, green. Warm tones denser in the upper part, greens in the lower — colour slides from top to bottom. The only white element is the logotype (AGI).
4. Typography — digits in several typefaces (Didone serifs alongside grotesques) and in about ten sizes; the logotype is a small white lowercase with short serifs, letterspaced.
5. Message — Olivetti = number in general, not one machine; "everything you need" (olivettipertutti.it: "ed è tutto quello che serve in fondo").
6. Why exactly this way — the multitude of typefaces and sizes turns the digits into an image, not a piece of data; one white element in a field of hundreds gives focus without any other device.
7. What would kill it — white or light digits around the logotype: the tonal "hole" disappears and the logotype sinks in; or digits in a single typeface — it stays a table, not a carpet.

Principles: jedan-primitiv-za-sve, kontrolisan-slucaj, logotip-tih-i-nisko v2 correction (06.09.): there is no "horizontal band on black background" — the logotype lies on top of the digits, set apart by the darkened surroundings; the logotype is lowercase, not "geometric capitals."

1. What it is — poster for the Lexikon 80 typewriter (machine design by Nizzoli), lithograph, 69.9 × 49.5 cm, MoMA 336.1953 — gift of Olivetti, from the time of the exhibition Olivetti: Design in Industry (MoMA 1952).
2. Composition — the upper two thirds black: a fan of coloured parallelograms (letter-levers in flight) arranged around a single point, below it an arc of small circles with letters (keys); a thin white vertical divides the black field. The lower third: on the left a violet-grey square with a white square and a black band reading "LEXIKON 80," on the right a photograph of the machine on a light ground.
3. Colour (measured) — black 56%, violet-grey 22%, cream 20%; fan: pink, orange, yellow, turquoise, red, blue.
4. Typography — "olivetti" white letterspaced lowercase at top left; the model name a wide grotesque capitals on the black band.
5. Message — typing as the scattering of letter-levers around a single point of impact — the mechanism, not the housing.
6. Why exactly this way — the abstraction above carries attention, the photograph below carries proof; the same split returns in works 05, 07 and 08.
7. What would kill it — a photograph across the whole format: it stays a catalogue.

Principles: analogija-umjesto-ilustracije, apstrakcija-gore-dokaz-dolje v2 correction (06.09.): "olivetti" is lowercase, not grotesque capitals; the white vertical and the black band with the model name have been added.

1. What it is — poster for the Lettera 22 portable machine, lithograph, 69.9 × 50.2 cm, printer Industrie Grafiche N. Moneta, Milano (MoMA 1527.2000). No analysis of this work found in sources.
2. Composition — a field of scattered large letter fragments (C, E, H, D…) with a stepped outline, as if assembled from modules; many are turned or tilted. Some "letters" hold tiny icons: a typewriter, a telephone receiver, a hand. The lower part of the format stays empty.
3. Colour (measured) — paper 59%, ochre/sand 21%, grey 16%, turquoise; accents pinkish-red and green — pastel, flat tones.
4. Typography — "olivetti" small grotesque lowercase bottom left; "Lettera 22" serif italic rotated 90° along the right edge.
5. Message — the letter (script, message, telephone) as a world in which the machine lives; the letter is both frame and content at once.
6. Why exactly this way — the stepped outline of the letters doesn't look like typography but like cut paper or a mosaic — the letters are objects that can be scattered around.
7. What would kill it — legible letters in a single line: the alphabet remains, the play of frames is lost.

Principles: slovo-kao-okvir-za-ikonu, logotip-tih-i-nisko v2 correction (06.09.): "olivetti" is lowercase, "Lettera 22" serif italic (not grotesque capitals); the outlines are stepped.

1. What it is — poster for the Tetractys calculator, a stronger variant of the Divisumme 24 (1956), photolithograph, 70.5 × 49.5 cm; MoMA dates it 1957, storiaolivetti.it and olivettipertutti.it 1956. The name is the Pythagorean tetraktys.
2. Composition — two large vines of curved arrows, one from the upper, the other from the lower part of the format; each branches into ever-shorter arrows pointing in every direction. There is no single point of origin — storiaolivetti: arrows that "branch into multiple paths" as a sign of logical complexity. The inscription sits in the passage between the vines.
3. Colour (measured) — paper 72%; black, red, blue, green, yellow and grey arrows; where arrows cross, colours overlap (in the 1024 px scan a darker tone is visible where blue and green cross).
4. Typography — "olivetti" small grotesque lowercase + "Tetractys" large upright serif cut — not italic capitals.
5. Message — one operation gives birth to a series of further ones: a machine that "thinks" in branches.
6. Why exactly this way — the arrow is the only shape (only size, colour, direction vary), so the image is pure logic; the upright roman gives the name a classical tone (Pythagoras) against the grotesque logotype.
7. What would kill it — straight arrows: growth disappears, leaving only a flow chart.

Principles: jedan-primitiv-za-sve, preklop-daje-trecu-boju, strelica-i-dijagonala-kao-kretanje, logotip-tih-i-nisko v2 correction (06.09.): there is no single centre — two vines; the arrows are curved; the inscription is not "italic serif capitals" but grotesque lowercase + upright roman; year 1956 (MoMA 1957).

1. What it is — poster for the mechanical adding machine Summa Prima 20 (mechanics by Capellaro, design by Nizzoli), offset lithograph, 69.8 × 49.8 cm. MoMA gives "c. 1957", olivettipertutti.it places the machine and poster in 1960 — 1960 taken.
2. Composition — upper two thirds: a spiral of the sequence "1234567890" from centre to edge, digits coloured in segments; lower third: a yellow band, left a black rectangle with rotated "olivetti", right a photograph of the machine with a strip of paper.
3. Colour (measured) — paper 46%, yellow 21%, grey 19%, black 15%; digits red, blue, black, yellow, turquoise.
4. Typography — digits bold grotesque; "summa PRIMA 20" and "olivetti" white on the black rectangle.
5. Message — addition as an unbroken sequence unwinding (like a strip of paper from the machine itself).
6. Why exactly this way — a single sequence of ten digits repeated endlessly; a spiral instead of concentric circles means the sequence is ONE.
7. What would kill it — random digits: it stays work 01; the spiral is precisely the difference between a "number" and "calculating".

Principles: jedan-primitiv-za-sve, serija-kao-identitet, apstrakcija-gore-dokaz-dolje v2 correction (06.09.): added — the sequence is literally "1234567890" repeated; "olivetti" rotated within the black rectangle; date disputed (1957/1960).

1. What it is — poster for the electric adding machine, photolithograph, 69.9 × 48.9 cm, printer N. Moneta, Milan–Rome (MoMA 141.1963; date 1962). olivettipertutti.it gives 1958.
2. Composition — a mass of isometric blocks (like a pile of boxes or a city seen from above) fills the upper three quarters; the mass's outline is an irregular hexagon; tiny black digits beside individual blocks. One line of text at the bottom.
3. Colour (measured) — paper 47%, light grey plane 23%, black tops, mid grey; accents blue, red, yellow, lilac, green — three tones per block give volume.
4. Typography — "Olivetti Elettrosumma 22" bold slanted grotesque — not serif italic; bottom right a small printer's imprint.
5. Message — sum as construction: a body grows from individual units.
6. Why exactly this way — isometry has no single viewpoint, so the mass reads as a system that can keep extending; the colours are arranged with no visible order, but every block follows the same light logic.
7. What would kill it — perspective with a horizon: a scene appears, the system disappears.

Principles: serija-kao-identitet, kontrolisan-slucaj v2 correction (06.09.): the inscription is bold slanted grotesque, not serif italic; the mass's outline is an irregular hexagon.

1. What it is — poster for the Lettera 22; year 1958 only from PGDA (student contribution, source galerie123.com) — unconfirmed.
2. Composition — above, a photograph of the machine, below it the name and to the right a large black asterisk (a keyboard character). Lower half: a sailing ship assembled from coloured strips (masts, sails, hull) and from lines typed by the machine — the alphabet, a sequence of digits, "xxxx", dots as ropes.
3. Colour (measured, warm scan) — cream 75%; strips blue, red, yellow, dark green, black.
4. Typography — "Olivetti Lettera 22" bold slanted grotesque; within the image the machine's own script (typed lines) used as building material.
5. Message — the portable machine travels; everything needed for a ship (ropes, sails) is already in the keyboard.
6. Why exactly this way — the typed line is proof of the machine within the drawing, and the asterisk is a keyboard character enlarged into a sun/star.
7. What would kill it — a drawn ship without typed lines: it remains an illustration, the link to the machine is lost.

Principles: analogija-umjesto-ilustracije, apstrakcija-gore-dokaz-dolje v2 correction (06.09.): the lower construction is not a "star-shaped mechanism" but a sailing ship made of strips and typed lines; the inscription is mixed case (not capitals).

1. What it is — poster for the Lexikon, lithograph, 70.5 × 49.5 cm, printer Industrie Grafiche N. Moneta (MoMA 1526.2000). PGDA 16748 uses the same MoMA image.
2. Composition — above, a row of six keys in profile (black top, below a blue tone lightening left to right); a red ball bounces from key to key, its path drawn as dotted arcs. Below, a photograph of the machine, bottom left a red rectangle with the name.
3. Colour (measured) — paper 77%; black, blue in steps, pure red (ball and block) — the only warm tone in the format.
4. Typography — "olivetti" white lowercase + "Lexikon" bold italic, white on red — mixed setting, not capitals.
5. Message — lightness of the strike: typing as bouncing.
6. Why exactly this way — the same red links the ball and the name: the eye moves from the ball down the arcs to the block with the name.
7. What would kill it — a ball without the dotted path: time disappears.

Principles: analogija-umjesto-ilustracije, strelica-i-dijagonala-kao-kretanje, apstrakcija-gore-dokaz-dolje v2 correction (06.09.): record transferred to MoMA 8823 (technique, dimensions, printer); the blue keys are a gradual scale, not "three tones"; the inscription is mixed case.