For as long as they've been available on our phones, emoji have mostly been a way for us to communicate with one another. When we lack the words to properly express our thoughts or feelings, a smiling ...

Nearly two decades ago, Shigetaka Kurita was given the task of designing simple pictographs that could replace Japanese words for the growing number of cellphone users communicating with text messages ...

Only Slate Plus members can gift Slate stories. Become a member to share 10 free articles a month. Ever since Apple popularized the Japanese emoticons on known as emoji with the release of i0S5, ...

Having a full conversation using images in lieu of words has become more and more possible, thanks to the magic of emoji, those tiny little faces and graphics that have shot to popularity since being ...

Back in 1999, when the mobile internet first flickered to life on Japan’s i-mode, email was confined to a snug 250 characters. Email! So when designer Shigetaka Kurita centered pixels on his potter’s ...