The Story Of Emoji

by Gavin Lucas

This is the first book to explain the genesis and cultural significance of emoji, the world's cutest and most popular form of shorthand. If you have a Twitter account or regularly send text messages, it's highly likely that you've used or received emoji. These characters include symbols and pictograms that represent a host of everyday objects and activities plus, crucially, a selection of faces that denote a range of emotions from happy to sad, angry, confused, surprised, or tired. The word -emoji- literally translates from Japanese as -picture- (e) and -character- (moji). The Story of Emoji traces emoji from their origin as a symbol typeface created specifically for on-screen use by a Japanese mobile phone provider in the late 1990s to an international communication phenomenon. As well as a history of emoji and an interview with their creator, Shigetaka Kurita, the book includes an exploration of non-text typefaces, from the decorative fleurons of the early days of the printing press to the innumerable digital typefaces available today, to the use of emoticons, ASCII art, and kaomoji in typed messages. It also looks at an array of artworks, fashion lines, special character sets, advertisements, and projects that convey emoji's widespread impact on contemporary culture. Finally, the book concludes with a section for which a group of illustrators, artists, and graphic designers have created original emoji characters they wish existed, including bacon, a vinyl record, and even a -stabbed-in-the-back- emoji.

Genres: Technology, History, Art, Nonfiction, Cultural

192 pages, Hardcover

Published April 15, 2016

About the author

Gavin Lucas is a copywriter / author / journalist / content creator / food enthusiast / vinyl obsessive & serial collaborator based in London.

Reviews

[Ben McCaughtry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed reading this book. I didn't think a book could go so in depth on the history of pictures used to represent emotions, but it goes through the decades of the original 'Smiley', emoticons and the introduction of them into phone networks. The comment about the lack of a bacon emoji was hilarious! It's a cool look at modern history.

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seemingly a book published just to be given to people. Missing a good deal of critical insight and chock full of brand promotions.

[Denise · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a gift to my mom, and I figured somebody should at least open it. And hey, now I know that there is a book called Emoji Dick, retelling the story of that big white whale entirely in emojis. Knowledge is power, yes?

[Jay Gabler · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a quick read and a coffee-table conversation piece for yourself or your favorite emoji fan, The Story of Emoji is...I'd use an emoji here, but ironically they don't work in Goodreads reviews. To see which one I used, check out my review in The Tangential.

[Maya Tang]

It is also a interesting book about emoji. This book tells how emoji invented by people and some interesting history of emoji. I think nowadays everyone use emojis to express their feelings, but not many people know how they come from, so everyone should read this book to know more.

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun quick read about the history and current artistic use of emojis.