Vp topic banner emoji 980x180 1

Evolution of Emojis

By HTIATTAATITT

  • PLATO Smileys

    PLATO Smileys
    PLATO users began doing smiley characters probably as early as 1972, but possibly even earlier on PLATO III.

  • PLATO Emoticons

    PLATO Emoticons
    emoticons on PLATO were already an art form by 1976.

  • First True Emoji

    First True Emoji
    Further research also located precursors to this set of emojis within other Sharp devices, with the earliest of these being found within the Sharp PA-8500 - an even earlier model of PDA devices that was released in October 1988. This set of emoji designs, predates the set found within the Softbank SkyWalker DP-211SW mobile phone by just over 9 years (October 1998 vs November 1997).

  • Wingdings

    Wingdings
    Wingdings is a series of dingbat fonts that render letters as a variety of symbols. They were originally developed in 1990 by Microsoft by combining glyphs from Lucida Icons, Arrows, and Stars licensed from Charles Bigelow and Kris Holmes. Certain versions of the font's copyright string include attribution to Type Solutions, Inc., the maker of a tool used to hint the font.