Editing Emoji (section)

===Evolution from emoticons (1990s)===
{{main|Emoticon}}

The emoji was predated by the [[emoticon]],<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/happy-30th-birthday-emoticon-8120158.html| title=Happy 30th Birthday Emoticon!| date=September 8, 2012| newspaper=Independent| access-date=November 30, 2017}}</ref> a concept implemented in 1982 by computer scientist [[Scott Fahlman]] when he suggested text-based symbols such as :-) and :-( could be used to replace language.<ref>{{Citation | title = -) turns 25| publisher = [[Associated Press]]| date = 2007-09-20| url = http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/09/18/emoticon.anniversary.ap/index.html| access-date = 2007-09-20 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20071012051803/http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/09/18/emoticon.anniversary.ap/index.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-10-12}}</ref> Theories about language replacement can be traced back to the 1960s, when Russian novelist and professor [[Vladimir Nabokov]] stated in an interview with ''[[The New York Times]]'': "I often think there should exist a special typographical sign for a smile — some sort of concave mark, a supine round bracket."<ref name=Nabokov1973>{{Citation| last = Nabokov| first = Vladimir| year = 1973| title = Strong Opinions| pages = 133–134| isbn = 0-679-72609-8| location = New York| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780679726098 |publisher=Vintage Books }}</ref> It did not become a mainstream concept until the 1990s, when Japanese, American, and European companies began developing Fahlman's idea.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.rd.com/culture/history-of-emoji/| title=Why Do We Use Emojis Anyway? A Fascinating History of Emoticons| date=December 9, 2016| magazine=Reader's Digest| access-date=November 30, 2017 |first=Claire |last=Nowak}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.ovrdrv.com/emoji-101/| title=Emoji 101| date=October 14, 2015| publisher=Overdrive Interactive| access-date=November 30, 2017 |author=Edwina De Abreu}}</ref> [[Mary Kalantzis]] and [[Bill Cope (academic)|Bill Cope]] point out that similar symbology was incorporated by Bruce Parello, a student at the [[University of Illinois]], into [[PLATO IV]], the first [[e-learning]] system, in 1972.<ref name="Kalantzis">{{cite book |last1=Kalantzis |first1=Mary |last2=Cope |first2=Bill |title=Adding Sense: Context and Interest in a Grammar of Multimodal Meaning |date=2020 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-49534-9 |page=33}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Cope |first1=Bill |last2=Kalantzis |first2=Mary |title=A Little History of e-Learning |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351400910 |via=ResearchGate |access-date=26 October 2021}}</ref> The PLATO system was not considered mainstream, and therefore Parello's [[pictogram]]s were only used by a small number of people.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Ernie |title=The Greatest Computer Network You've Never Heard Of |date=November 13, 2017 |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-greatest-computer-network-youve-never-heard-of/ |publisher=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]]}}</ref> [[Scott Fahlman|Scott Fahlman's]] emoticons importantly used common alphabet symbols and aimed to replace language/text to express emotion, and for that reason are seen as the actual origin of emoticons.

The first emoji are a matter of contention due to differing definitions and poor early documentation.<ref name="emojipediafirst" /><ref name=":4" /> It was previously widely considered that DoCoMo had the first emoji set in 1999, but an [[Emojipedia]] blog article in 2019 brought [[SoftBank Group|SoftBank's]] earlier 1997 set to light.<ref name="emojipediafirst" /> More recently, in 2024, earlier emoji sets were uncovered on portable devices by [[Sharp Corporation]] and [[NEC]]<ref>{{Cite book |title=NEC 電子手帳 PI-ET1 取扱説明書 |publisher=NEC Corporation |year=1990 |pages=131 |language=Japanese |trans-title=NEC Electronic Notebook PI-ET1 Instruction Manual |chapter=システム外字数 |trans-chapter=Non System Kanji}}</ref> in the early 1990s, with the 1988 Sharp PA-8500 harboring what can be defined as the earliest known emoji set that reflects emoji keyboards today.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Sharp 電子手帳 PA-8500 取扱説明書 |publisher=SHARP Corporation |year=1988 |pages=201 |language=Japanese |trans-title=Sharp Electronic Notebook PA-8500 Operating Instructions |chapter=記号一覧表 |trans-chapter=Symbol List}}</ref><ref name=":4" />

[[File:Wingdings sample (cropped).png|thumb|Wingdings icons, including smiling and frowning faces]]
[[Wingdings]], a font invented by [[Charles Bigelow (type designer)|Charles Bigelow]] and [[Kris Holmes]], was released by [[Microsoft]] in 1990.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Edwards |first1=Phil |title=Why the Wingdings font exists |url=https://www.vox.com/2015/8/25/9200801/wingdings-font-history |publisher=[[Vox (website)|Vox]] |date=August 26, 2015}}</ref> It could be used to send pictographs in [[rich text]] messages, but would only load on devices with the Wingdings font installed.<ref name="emojipediafirst">{{cite web |title=Correcting the Record on the First Emoji Set |url=https://blog.emojipedia.org/correcting-the-record-on-the-first-emoji-set/ |publisher=[[Emojipedia]] |date=March 8, 2019}}</ref> In 1995, the French newspaper {{Lang|fr|[[Le Monde]]}} announced that [[Alcatel-Lucent|Alcatel]] would be launching a new phone, the BC&nbsp;600. Its welcome screen displayed a digital smiley face, replacing the usual text seen as part of the "welcome message" often seen on other devices at the time.<ref>{{cite news |title=Souriez! Le GSM présente un nouveau visage |publisher=[[Le Monde]] |date=November 7, 1995 |language=fr|page=13}}</ref> In 1997, SoftBank's [[J-Phone]] arm launched the SkyWalker DP-211SW, which contained a set of 90 emoji. Its designs, each measuring 12 by 12 pixels, were [[monochrome]], depicting numbers, sports, the time, [[moon phases]], and the weather. It contained the [[Pile of Poo emoji]] in particular.<ref name="emojipediafirst" /> The J-Phone model experienced low sales, and the emoji set was thus rarely used.<ref>{{Cite journal | last=Alt | first=Matt | title=Why Japan Got Over Emojis | journal=Slate | url=https://slate.com/technology/2015/12/emojis-are-no-longer-cool-in-japan.html | date=December 7, 2015 | access-date=January 22, 2019 }}</ref>

In 1999, [[Shigetaka Kurita]] created 176 emoji as part of [[NTT DoCoMo]]'s [[i-mode]], used on its mobile platform.<ref name=Steinmetz2015>{{cite magazine|last=Steinmetz|first=Katy|url=https://time.com/4114886/oxford-word-of-the-year-2015-emoji/|title=Oxford's 2015 Word of the Year Is This Emoji|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=November 16, 2015|access-date=July 28, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/11/emojis-rapid-evolution.html|title=Smile, You're Speaking Emoji|author=Sternbergh, Adam|date=November 16, 2014}}</ref><ref name="Meet Shigetaka Kurita, the Father of Emoji">{{cite web|last1=Negishi|first1=Mayumi|title=Meet Shigetaka Kurita, the Father of Emoji|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2014/03/26/meet-shigetaka-kurita-the-father-of-emoji|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|date=March 26, 2014|access-date=August 16, 2015}}</ref> They were intended to help facilitate electronic communication and to serve as a distinguishing feature from other services.<ref name=":0"/> Due to their influence, Kurita's designs were once claimed to be the first cellular emoji;<ref name="emojipediafirst" /> however, Kurita has denied that this is the case.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://emojitimeline.com/ |title=Emoji Timeline |first=Daniel |last=Hånberg Alonso}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=日本のモバイル端末における絵文字はポケベルが最初ですが、ケータイに関しては私が開発したドコモの絵文字が最初ではなく、J-PHONEのパイオニアDP-211SWが最初だったと思います. |first=Shigetaka |last=Kurita |author-link=Shigetaka Kurita |website=[[Twitter]] |date=2019-01-03 |url=https://twitter.com/sigekun/status/1080848236653334529}}</ref> According to interviews, he took inspiration from Japanese [[manga]] where characters are often drawn with symbolic representations called ''manpu'' (such as a water drop on a face representing nervousness or confusion), and weather pictograms used to depict the weather conditions at any given time. He also drew inspiration from [[Chinese characters]] and street sign pictograms.<ref name="Meet Shigetaka Kurita, the Father of Emoji"/><ref>{{cite web|title=NTT DoCoMo Emoji List|url=https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/service/imode_mail/function/pictograph|publisher=nttdocomo.co.jp}}</ref><ref name="Why and how I created emoji">{{cite web|first=Mamiko |last=Nakano |translator1=Mitsuyo Inaba Lee |title=Why and how I created emoji: Interview with Shigetaka Kurita |url=http://ignition.co/105 |website=Ignition |access-date=August 16, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610220635/http://ignition.co/105 |archive-date=June 10, 2016 }}</ref> The DoCoMo i-Mode set included facial expressions, such as smiley faces, derived from a Japanese visual style commonly found in manga and [[anime]], combined with ''[[kaomoji]]'' and smiley elements.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Moschini |first1=Ilaria |title=The "Face with Tears of Joy" Emoji: A Socio-Semiotic and Multimodal Insight into a Japan-America Mash-Up |journal=HERMES: Journal of Language and Communication in Business |date=29 August 2016 |issue=55 |pages=11–25 |doi=10.7146/hjlcb.v0i55.24286 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307442698 |doi-access=free |access-date=14 November 2020 |archive-date=23 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123200221/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307442698_The_Face_with_Tears_of_Joy_Emoji_A_Socio-Semiotic_and_Multimodal_Insight_into_a_Japan-America_Mash-Up |url-status=live }}</ref> Kurita's work is displayed in the [[Museum of Modern Art]] in [[New York City]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ness |first1=Amanda |title=Look Who's Smiley Now: MoMA Acquires Original Emoji |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/27/arts/design/look-whos-smiley-now-moma-acquires-original-emoji.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 26, 2016}}</ref>

Kurita's emoji were brightly colored, albeit with a single color per [[glyph]]. General-use emoji, such as sports, actions, and weather, can readily be traced back to Kurita's emoji set.<ref name=guardiankurita>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/27/emoji-inventor-shigetaka-kurita-moma-new-york-text|title=The inventor of emoji on his famous creations – and his all-time favorite|last=McCurry|first=Justin|date=2016-10-27|website=[[The Guardian]] |language=en |access-date=2018-06-17}}</ref> Notably absent from the set were pictograms that demonstrated emotion. The yellow-faced emoji in current use evolved from other emoticon sets and cannot be traced back to Kurita's work.<ref name=guardiankurita /> His set also had generic images much like the [[J-Phone]]s. Elsewhere in the 1990s, [[Nokia]] phones began including preset pictograms in its text messaging app, which they defined as "smileys and symbols".<ref name=nokia3310>{{cite web |title=Nokia 3310 User Guide |url=https://www.nokia.com/phones/en_gb/support/api/pdf/nokia-3310-user-guide |publisher=[[Nokia]]}}</ref> A third notable emoji set was introduced by Japanese mobile phone brand [[au by KDDI]].<ref name="emojipediafirst" /><ref name="Schwartzberg">{{cite web|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/3037803/the-oral-history-of-the-poop-emoji-or-how-google-brought-poop-to-america|title=The Oral History Of The Poop Emoji (Or, How Google Brought Poop To America)|website=Fast Company|last=Schwartzberg|first=Lauren|date=18 November 2014|language=en|access-date=29 March 2017}}</ref>