If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how much could you say with up to 800 emoji icons? Emojis (or emojicons) are pint-sized pixel pictures that allow mobile phone and computer users to condense common emotions into single, simple images.
A straightforward smiley or a silly sad face surely can’t be complicated, but there’s a story behind the infamous emoji images and there aren’t enough icons to explain it. Here is the history of the emoji de-Unicod(ed):
High Tech Tokyo
Image via Flickr by Fcb
The earliest emojis originated in Japan around 1995. The crude characters weren’t yet called emojis, rather they were ASCII art or kaomoji. Kaomoji were simple symbols arranged to create emotional expressions. Shigetaka Kurita, a Japanese developer, thought they could be better expressed, so he invented a version of the characters that included complex details on a 12 x 12 pixel canvas.
Thus, Kurita became the father of the modern emoji. He created the first 176 character set of coloured emoticons. His original emojis were originally released on limited platforms.
Insert Willem Van Lancker Here
Willem Van Lancker made the first, commercially communicated version of emojis. Van Lancker, an intern at the time, was responsible for 400 of the 500 emoji character set, which has since become the most popular set of all time. The set includes everything from pizza to people.
Unfortunately, for those seeking alternative expression, when emojis were developed for commercial use, they were available on limited platforms. This meant that early text messages were about as boring as cave drawings. Many devices were only capable of creating outdated ASCII art at best.
Emoji for the Masses
As more and more operating systems and devices continue to emerge, emoji is now available on a variety of platforms, including the latest version of BlackBerry 10. Thousands of users all over the world can now text message emoji monkeys when their friends say something foolish.
Comical Communications
Image via Flickr by Yodelanecdotal
Speaking of foolish things, emojis have spawned an entire culture of comical communications. Sites like emojitales.com sprung up around the texting trend of telling entire tales with emojis alone.
One emoji enthusiast even took it upon himself to translate the classic novel Moby Dick into pictograms using the infamous icons. According to Time Magazine, the translation was later accepted by the Library of Congress!
An Emotional Future
Technology has certainly made society more lazy. The trends are all too clear. Turn-by-turn directions and digital maps have replaced remembering a route. Your family members tend to text more than they call and baby pictures rarely come with captions.
The future of emoji is uncertain in its form, but it’s sure to remain embedded in modern technology. In a world where a simple smiley face can replace a 20-word sentence and multitasking is king, the icon will always win.
The next time you send a text message, why not share a little smile? Surely, there’s an icon for that. What are some other unique modes of expression that technology has enabled in the last 20 years? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Sources:
http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/emoji-2023-12/
http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/4/3966140/how-emoji-conquered-the-world
http://crackberry.com/blackberry-102-bringing-standard-unicode-emoji-support-return-level-1-notifications-and-more
http://crackberry.com/blackberry-102-bringing-standard-unicode-emoji-support-return-level-1-notifications-and-more
The Winky Frowny is the most improperly acknowledged emoticon on the Internets. It actually is supposedly used to mean loneliness, with a bit of sarcasm, skepticism, or alternatively hilarity. It is aiming to say “tragic, but you get it”, yet its meaning could not be any less sharp. We firmly discourage its use. And so never ever use Comic Sans MS.