Communication - 60 years of the smiley - the history of the celebrated symbol
A yellow circle, two dots and a semicircle inside - and the world-famous smiley is born. Inventor Harvey Ball didn't want a lot of bells and whistles; he thought a nose was superfluous.
Since the birth of this idea 60 years ago - the exact date of its invention is not known - the symbol has been printed on album covers, T-shirts and mugs. Providers of communication apps are still inspired by the design today. Despite its popularity, the inventor only receives a small fee. A few facts about the smiling yellow face to mark the milestone birthday.
The birth of the smiley face: In 1963, freelance artist Harvey Ball was commissioned to design a smiling face for an insurance company. This was to be printed on badges, cards and posters. The aim is to make employees laugh while they work.
Ball gets to work. He draws a circle, paints it yellow and puts two dots, the eyes, and a semi-circle, the mouth, in it. Less than ten minutes later, the smiley is finished.
A huge success for little money: the company distributes 100 smiley face badges to its employees. The yellow face is well received. The company therefore orders a further 10,000. By 1971, more than 50 million had been sold. The smiley becomes a globally recognized symbol.
240 US dollars for the invention of the smiley face
And what did inventor Ball get out of it? Financially at least, not that much. He never registered a trademark or copyright for the design. For the entire campaign, he only received 240 US dollars (the equivalent of around 223 euros today) and did not share in any further profits.
There are now countless products to buy with the face: from mugs and T-shirts to bed linen. Bands such as Nirvana use it in a slightly modified form as a kind of logo, and many people immortalize it as a tattoo on their skin.
From smiley to foundation: Harvey Ball founded the company World Smile in 1999. Among other things, it organizes World Smile Day - World Emoji Day. On this day, money is raised for the Harvey Ball Smile Foundation, which campaigns for the welfare of children. This day takes place annually on the first Friday in October and the motto is: "Do something good - help someone smile".
First smiley discovered 4000 years ago: Not round and not yellow either, but smiling nonetheless, a smiley face appears on a clay jug that is around 4000 years old. Researchers excavated the jug from the Hittite period in Karkamis, Turkey, near the Syrian border. It features two eyes and a curved mouth. The find is considered the oldest smiley face to date. As lead archaeologist Nicolò Marchetti noted in 2017, the jar was intended for a sweet fruit drink.
The first digital smiley in the "New York Times": Readers of the "New York Times" can probably find a smiley in the form of a ";)" in the newspaper for the first time as early as 1862 - in an article about a speech by President Abraham Lincoln.
A typo? Experts note that newspaper texts at the time were typeset from individual matrices - so the possibility of carelessness can actually be ruled out. Historians examine how semicolons and spaces were used in the mid-19th century. There is no consensus as to whether the Lincoln text is really a wink.
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- The symbol has also been incorporated into various communication apps worldwide, adding a touch of color and joy to digital communication.
- In commemoration of the smiley's 60th birthday, numerous exhibitions in cities like Berlin showcase the history and impact of this international art form.
- As for financial compensation, the original US dollar amount of $240 Ball received for his invention may not seem significant in comparison to the billions generated from merchandise and usage, particularly in a trendy app market like the US.
- Despite its global recognition and cultural impact, the smiley's origins can be traced back to the history of Berkeley, California, where it first emerged in US digital communication during the late 1960s.
Source: www.stern.de
