Emoji, A Closer Look
Just for fun, I recently posted a tweet (primarily in emoji) that describes a typical day for me in the studio. Strangely enough, it got a lot of favs and retweets.
It was early in the morning and I was browsing through twitter on my iPhone, when I had the thought...How much info could you put out in a tweet using emoji? I thought about what I did all day and was curious if I could find the right emoji to describe the ins and outs of my day.
Translated, the above set of emoji say this: I get up at 7am and read the news, then workout, take a shower, eat breakfast, make coffee and am at work in the studio by 9am. I then read emails, drink my coffee, work on the computer, write and/or respond to client emails, answer questions and find solutions. I work until about noon and then eat a healthy lunch. I'm then back at it. A client might disapprove a design element in an email. To clarify, I might give them a call so that we can work together to fix it. Then I send the design back, get an approval, work on finalizing the files, and do an email, call or two from other clients. When approval comes back, I invoice the work, get paid and send the files. At about 6pm, I call it quits, make dinner and maybe have a beer. Later that night, I might play a video game or read a book, but I'm usually asleep before midnight.
So I can write out 164 words, OR I can say this in, 57 emoji! (By the way, I just figured out that the plural of emoji, is emoji NOT emojis.)
I know...some people absolutely hate emoji. I really wasn't a big fan until it evolved past the smiley and frowny faces. I became an even bigger fan once they became graphics and were available on my desktop's OS. In the Character Viewer (Apple) you actually get a description of each one so that you can use them properly.
Let's face it, emoji are not only here to stay, but they are truly, the closest thing we have to universal communication.
Let's Take a Closer Look
I've been a big fan of emoji for the past year, but, until today, I never really looked at them, up close. Below I'm posting a few screenshots that show you some of the really neat details of emoji (Apple OS). I've pasted them into a text app and cranked the font size up.
Click for larger image.
Here are just a few interesting things about the emoji in the above image.
The mobile phone is not a generic looking phone. It is most definitely an iPhone.
The shower-head, the egg, the apple and the beer, all have quite a lot of detail that you probably won't notice until you blow them up.
The pink building with the heart is described as the "Love Hotel" in Apple's Character Viewer.
The game control, actually says "GAME" in the middle of it.
The tabbed pages, the book and the note being written all include part of the "Think Different" text written by Rob Siltanen with participation of Lee Clow, and it reads "Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can..." (Apple almost always uses this text (or part thereof) in any icon or emoji where text is represented.)
The newspaper title is "The Apple Times" with "lorem ipsum" as the text of the article. The image on the newspaper is the "volcano erupting" emoji.
The book volumes 1-4 are all written by John Appleseed.
The building with the "24" above it, is a 7/11 type of 24 hour convenience store.
Lastly...like it or not...the pile of poo...really just is...A PILE OF POO! 😳
