History of the Emoji

The History of the Emoji

In the late 1990s, a Japanese artist named Shigetaka Kurita created the first emoji. He was working for a mobile communications company called NTT Docomo. They were developing a new internet platform. Since it allowed for a limited number of characters, Kurita came up with the idea to replace words with pictures. This would allow people to communicate longer messages while using less data.

Over a decade later, Unicode created a universal standard set of emojis. This meant that people all over the world were using the same emoji dictionary. With everyone "speaking" the same language, emojis easily became a part of our everyday lives.

Where was the emoji invented?

At a first glance this new addition to MoMA's collection might feel unlikely and strange, but after a closer look, you'll recognize something important in the little, crude forms: they're the original emoji, designed in Japan in 1999 by Shigetaka Kurita at the Japanese telecommunications company NTT DOCOMO.

Why do we use emojis?

We use them to express our thoughts and feelings without words. With emojis, you can communicate so many things by using one or two icons, cutting down the time you need to type it out. It's time-efficient and conveys emotion easily. It also makes for interesting ways of expressing oneself.

https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts/what-do-emojis-mean-how-millennials-and-gen-z-use-them-very-differently-1.1183746

https://kids.tpl.ca/wonders/573