In this week’s video, Susan Kare talked about her design career as an iconographer, which inspired me to think about other design elements that I see everyday including emoji. Emoji has been used very often in daily communication since created, but little did I know about the design process and the team behind it.
There was a survey about “will you add stickers or Emoji to your text?” in 2013. According to the survey, 74% of people in the United States and 82% in China said they would do so. Users use Twitter to send more than 470 million “joy”, making the Emoji the most popular emoji. Couples also use “love” Emoji very often, which used to be the most commonly used symbol on Twitter.
I think the essence of Emoji is that when users read through their fingertips on a small screen, written language is often awkward and long, and Emoji is just right to describe mood changes. These seemingly cartoon-like symbols are very easy to recognize and can even help users overcome language barriers. At the same time, the meaning of Emoji is changing over time, which is like the epitome constantly changing social communication in the information age.
Click the link below to know more about the evolution of Emoji and its design at Google:
DSGN 264-401 | Fall 2020 