Member-only story
The Emoji journey: From self-expression tool to multi-million dollar business
Emojis, memojis, avatars. Here’s how they evolved and still make millions to their creators.
Emojis, emoticons are the way millennials and the new Gen Z communicate. It’s hard to type how exactly you’re feeling, and emojis are perfect for showing it for you. Emojis, like human emotions, are universal and break all language barriers. You might be an emoji fan 😍 or a fanatic ❤️, hate them 👎 , or anything in between🙄, but if it’s your dear friends’ birthday, you’ll feel tempted to use one of these 🎂🍰🥳🎉🎈 . And what’s valentine’s day without sharing 💞😘.
Interestingly emojis have come a long way from the time the first smiley was designed, to the present-day Avatars we can create for ourselves. Did I already say Avatars? I’ve got it covered.
Origin of the smileys 🙂
Ever wondered how or who created the first yellow smiley-face we use at least once in our chats?
The original smiley face was created by Harvey Ball in 1963 for The State Mutual Life Assurance Company of Worcester, Massachusetts (now known as Hanover Insurance). The insurance firm had made some difficult acquisitions and mergers that consequently resulted in low employee morale. The insurance firm hired freelance designer Harvey Ball to create something to uplift the employees’ sentiment. In less than 10 minutes and for $45, Harvey Ball made the now-iconic smiley face. 🙂 The original smiley face has two oval eyes, one smaller than the other, and the smile is not perfectly curved. Take a look.
The company created pins with the smiley for their 100 employees, and soon clients too asked for it. The smiley face became insanely popular over the next decade, and they did not bother to copyright it. The smiley made its way on buttons, posters, signposts, and greeting cards.
These smileys also served to uplift Vietnam’s soldiers and citizens grappling with the war in the early 1970s. In 1971, Bernard and Murray Spain noticed this smiley face…
