How Emoji Killed the Smiley Vibes

It’s achingly simple. A yellow circle, two dots and a curved line. The undeniable symbol of good vibes. Remember that for later.

Yes, we had to depend on an insurance company asking a graphic designer, Harvey Ball, to come up with a button design to boost the morale of its employees for the now ubiquitous smiley face to be created. For 45 dollars in 1963. What ROI!

Yes, the design was mangled a few times over the next few decades, in a good way. The Nirvana smiley face for one, that first appeared on a poster for a private Nevermind album release party held in 1991, and the somewhat subtly warped version to appear on the cover of Talking Heads’ Psycho Killer UK vinyl. In the mid 2000s, Banksy revealed it as the Grim Reaper’s face, throwing in the obviously punny 'Grin Reaper' monikor. (Who’d have thought we will see ol’ Grimmy Ripster’s face before we could agree what Banksy’s mug looked like?)

But none of these antics nor its corporate geneis could dampen the pure sunny disposition of the smiley. That is until…

Reversal of Utility

A friend sent one in response to a hilarious meme I sent. A devastating blow. The friendship (and/or my sense of humour) needed re-evaluation.

I have never had life affirmation bubbly enough to don a yellow button badge nor a smiley t-shirt. But past encounters have been positive. They could make something good, better. Like the time I walked in to one the rooms at Space Ibiza to find massive inflated smiley balloons. I had to check, but can confirm this is not a false memory. (Side note: the legendary club has re-opened, albeit at a different location, with Hi still occupying the former ‘corner-of-car-park’.) Or they could give something painfully mundane some character, as it did with the ‘Thank You - Have a Nice Day’ grocery bags that were omnipresent in NYC.

So what could cause this mini-mind-gasp?

Emoji

What I had received was technically an emoji, the full circle back to symbolic languages that is inescapable in current day (mostly) informal text based communication. Embraced not just for their efficiency (how many characters would you need to replace 🥵?), but for the added emotional impact, and some would argue as an extension of one’s personality.

Emoji have come a long way since the consensus origin of 176 symbols created in 1999 by Japanese artist Shigetaka Kurita for Japan’s largest mobile carrier DOCOMO. It has been recognized by the Unicode Consortium, with an official process to add new ones (yes, forms and everything!), there’s an Emojipedia that centralises all things to do with governing emoji (obviously!), and by the end of 2022 there are close to 4000 of them.

I would argue that, albeit in quick time, emoji have matured as a cross cultural language that is moving on from being just a tool of expression to being integral to how we think, very much like a primary language.

Of the thousands of available emoji, a mere few hundred are face emoji, but they are the most widely used. Hundreds of them mean that every subtle variation of human facial expression is slowly being accounted for. That in itself is an interesting evolution to track. But it does mean that a simple smiley face gradually loses its efficacy. What is jarring is that it’s not simply a case of diminishing marginal utility or hedonic adaptation in the face of a (arguably) superior product. There is an actual reversal of utility.

The Smiley as an Insult

I do believe the design of the standard smiley within the emoji universe plays a part. The grin in the old smiley is almost ear-to-ear where as its emoji counterpart is almost just pursing its lips. In fact, on Emojipedia it is literally named ‘slightly smiling face’. And those dead eyes certainly do not help. (I did not expect to ever compare the amount of life projected by different sets of black dots, but here we are.)

Whatever the cause(s) may be, it is evident that the reaction to receiving the garden variety smiley has gone from ‘yay’ to ‘meh’ to ‘wtaf’.

It should be noted that not everyone has wised up to this transition, nor do they see the slightly smiling face as a slight. Bless those less cynical. So, do not automatically turn to despair if you receive one. Unless it is from your boss, or on a dating app . Then, start looking for options.