Evolution of Emojis Over Time

It is almost impossible to think of a time where we texted online without using emojis, emoticons, or emotes. You wake up and you send a good morning message to your loved one with a heart emoji and a kissy face. On your way to work or school you send a meme to your friend group and you are met with endless laughing emojis. Even in the work chat group, you use the thumbs-up and smiling emojis to show that you are on top of your work and interested. It almost feels unfathomable to have an online conversation without including our tiny little friends. But emojis have not always looked the way they are now, and their uses have evolved over time. Here at Emote IRL we take a look on how emojis started and changed over time to become the lovely little faces we know and love today.  

The Birth of Emojis

The true inventors of the emojis is no other than you, the online user! Back in the 90s, people in chatrooms used our favorite retro emojis such as :), xD, :P, to add a little personality and emotion to the conversations. These emojis remain popular and unchanged until this day. Similarly, these are the same emojis that have also started the journey of our store Emote IRL :D!

However, the story of the more modern emoji begins in the late 1990s in Japan, where Shigetaka Kurita created the first set of emojis (shown below). Created as a way to enhance communication on pagers, these early emojis were basic representations of emotions and objects, with a mere 176 icons. Little did Kurita know that he had laid the foundation for a global phenomenon that would revolutionize the way we express ourselves online.

The Rise of Unicode Consortium

As the use of emojis spread worldwide, standardization became crucial to ensure they can be used across different platforms. The Unicode Consortium, a non-profit organization, took on the task of turning emojis into code, and assigned each icon a unique code (example below) that would be recognized by any modern device or platform. This move was a main reason why emojis spread so quickly across the world despite the different cultures, languages, and platforms.

From Smiles to Everything

In the beginning, emojis were mostly about showing faces and emotions. But as more people started using them, emojis started to show all kinds of things – not just faces! Now, we have emojis for animals🐶, objects👚, activities 🏃, and even flags 🏁. It's like a whole new language that helps us say cool stuff with just a single picture!

Emojis Get Animated

Technology keeps getting better, and so do emojis! Instead of staying still, emojis can now move. Some emojis are like mini-movies, showing different expressions and actions. It's like having a little cartoon right in your messages!

Inclusive Emojis

Did you know that emojis are becoming more inclusive? That means they're trying to represent everyone, no matter where they're from or what they look like. Now, emojis have different skin tones 🫱🏿‍🫲🏻, cultural symbols☪️, and lots of ways to show how diverse and awesome our world is.

What's Next for Emojis

So, what's the future of emojis? Well, they're not done evolving! With new technologies like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), emojis might become even more interactive and fun. Imagine using emojis in a whole new way – that's what the future might hold!

Conclusion

Emojis have come a long way from their simple beginnings. They're not just smiley faces anymore – they're a global language that helps us express feelings, share cool stuff, and connect with people all over the world. 😊✨

 

Express yourself through your clothes and shop at Emote IRL!