September 3, 2009
Emoji Worth a Thousand Words?
Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on September 2009 In spite of ourselves, we’ve all used cellphone emoji graphics at some time. But did you know their roots stretch back at least 20 years? They started life as gaiji—or “outside characters”—on DOS PCs, eventually morphing in the late ’90s from fun kanji tweaks to the colorful graphics […]
By Metropolis
Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on September 2009
In spite of ourselves, we’ve all used cellphone emoji graphics at some time. But did you know their roots stretch back at least 20 years? They started life as gaiji—or “outside characters”—on DOS PCs, eventually morphing in the late ’90s from fun kanji tweaks to the colorful graphics we know today. Now, Enfour, one of the earliest software firms working with emoji, has brought the venerable communication tool up to date with Emoji Mailer, which bestows upon the iPhone the ability to mail emoji across platforms.
It might not sound like much, but if you’ve ever witnessed the ugly squares called mojibake that spoil the fun when one phone (or PC—that’s kinda the point) can’t understand the other’s jiggling beer mug missive, then you’ll be rushing to the App Store with your ¥115 in hand PDQ.
