Since 2014, every July 17th is celebrated as #WorldEmojiDay, a day dedicated to commemorating the use of emoticons across all social networks. Every day, emojis are used by millions of people, and they have even been used by various brands to advertise their products. In addition, they have made their way to the big screen with the never quite properly appreciated 😝 “The Emoji Movie.”
On September 19, 1982, Scott Elliot Fahlman, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, created the first emoticons.
His objective was to enable people to distinguish the tone of messages on an electronic bulletin board, using the combination of colon+dash+right parenthesis for humorous messages and colon+dash+left parenthesis for serious messages.
That initial message stated:
It was not until 1999 that the first colored emojis appeared, designed by Shigetaka Kurita, a Japanese interface designer. Kurita created 176 characters of 12 x 12 pixels, drawing inspiration from Japanese culture such as manga and kanji, for use on the mobile internet platform NTT DoCoMo. His aim was to develop a purely pictographic language to convey information.
One of Kurita’s initial sketches for his emojis. Source: CNN
Among Kurita’s original 176 emojis were hearts, cars, and even a snowman, but interestingly, there were no human faces. The word emoji is derived from Japanese: 絵 (“e,” meaning drawing), 文 (“mo,” meaning writing), and 字 (“ji,” meaning character). These Japanese characters or “kanji” are essential in the Japanese language, creating a strong connection between writing and drawing.
These first emojis can be viewed at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. In 2016, the MoMA added the original 176 emojis to its permanent collection, acknowledging their significant impact on digital communication and their cultural importance. This collection is available both in physical exhibitions and online, allowing visitors to explore the origins of these influential icons.
The first emojis created by Kurita
Indeed, Kurita’s emojis have had a profound impact, becoming an integral part of global digital communication, evolving and expanding across various platforms and devices. Today, emojis are a widely used form of expression in text messaging, social networks, and various communication apps.
More than 20 years later, it’s almost unimaginable to send a WhatsApp message or an email without including one of these charming icons. These symbols facilitate communication with people worldwide. However, as emojis spread globally, their usage becomes more sophisticated and contextual.
In 2010, emojis were incorporated into the Unicode standard, which governs text encoding for software. That year, 722 emojis were released for both iPhone and Android. Currently, there are over 3,000 different emojis, including variations like skin tone. The latest update of emojis, Unicode 16, arrived in September 2024, and included additions such as the face with dark circles.
The Unicode standard is continuously updated, and platform providers (Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung) or application providers (Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp) implement new emojis.
According to 2021 Unicode data, the most used emojis worldwide tend to remain stable, with ❤️ leading the list.
July 17th is celebrated as World Emoji Day because it is the date shown on the iPhone calendar emoticon, coinciding with the presentation of iCal by Apple in 2002. Google also displays this date in its Android products. Curiously, on social networks such as Facebook or WhatsApp, the date shown on the emoji calendar changes depending on dates significant to each platform.
Image: GPT Plus
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