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Emoji — the Universal Language of Digital Culture

Human society is inherently social, and the emotional exchange of information, opinions, and moods is an essential part of it. Unsurprisingly, once the Internet appeared, our style of communication moved online as well. Given the technological limitations at the dawn of the virtual era, people were restricted to the letters and numbers available on computers and mobile phones.

In 1982, American professor Scott Fahlman proposed using certain existing keyboard characters to convey emotions. This is how the first smiley was born — a simple way to give a short phrase of just two or three words an emotional tone from its sender. The idea caught on, and soon, a variety of symbol combinations allowed people to express a much wider range of feelings.

The Birth of Emoji

Meanwhile, technological progress continued to advance. Seventeen years after Scott Fahlman’s idea, in 1999, Japanese programmer Shigetaka Kurita created a set of special pictograms. Each one not only expressed a particular emotion but also had a clear, universally recognizable visual representation — people, objects, and more.

The need for such ideograms is fully justified. The modern world is fast-paced and dynamic. Millions of people spend countless hours exchanging information through their devices. There is little time for lengthy messages filled with complex sentences and phrasing. But the need to quickly and clearly express one’s mood or react vividly and emotionally — whether in business correspondence or private chats — is always present.

The Evolution of Emotional Pictograms

The first set of emoji was quite simple: just 170 small images, each limited to 12 by 12 pixels. Over time, the collection continued to grow and improve. A major boost in the development of visual communication came from the legendary Steve Jobs’ company. In 2011, Apple integrated emoji into the keyboard layout of its iOS messaging system. Given the immense popularity of Apple’s products, emoji usage experienced explosive growth.

Just a year later, the number of original emoji expanded to 376. Many of them became widely popular among people who enjoy texting on mobile phones or other devices. Cute faces, objects, animals, and other icons became so deeply embedded in everyday life that it is now hard to imagine sending even the shortest online message without this emotional variety.

If you’d like to explore the most complete and up-to-date collection of popular pictograms, we invite you to visit our portal. The Emoji catalog will appeal to anyone who enjoys adding expressive icons — also known as emoticons — to their messages. The extensive library of animated images is easy to use: simply choose a pictogram you like, copy it, and paste it into your message. Your communication will become more engaging, and your ideas more expressive.