Sign of the times…

Every year on the 17th July, geeks the world over acknowledge ‘World Emoji Day’, and we say what the heck, why not dedicate a day in tribute to those little illustrations we’re hooked on sending via text messaging and Twitter?

Originating in Japan in 1999, emojis became massively popular in the greater world at the start of the 2010s, having been added to several mobile operating systems. Talk about taking a while.

Last year saw the release of The Emoji Movie, an animated feature that “delved into the secret world inside your smartphone”, which featured a turd emoji on its poster art. That alone ought to have signalled to us that, yes, the film was shit.

Today, there are apps such as ‘Bitmoji’ which allow users to create their own caricatures in the form of emojis, in hundreds of scenes and settings relevant for whatever situation we’re in. See for example Cream’s editor getting into some serious disco, below.

Emojis can be lots of fun and sometimes advantageous when used economically in place of large words, but the thing is you’ve got to type at least two-thirds of a long word before your software picks up what you’re trying to write. ‘Christmas’, for instance, needs to see you type ‘Christm…’ before a symbol of a Christmas tree pops up, and before that, you get some sign of a cross image that represents ‘Christ’, which can be unnecessary to non-Christians who still want to wish friends a Happy Christmas. But I digress…

For the most part, emojis are harmless, cute and fun.

So Happy Emoji Day. Wink. 

Lisa Andrews