The Modern Day Cave Man

The arrival of the emoji changed this. The majority of communication devices now feature these amazing symbols and have introduced a way of visually communicating. But is it a new idea?

The emoji originated in Japan in the late 1990s, but they have seen a recent surge in popularity due to Apple including them on iOS, then android and other operating systems following suit. The English language is ever changing, ‘selfie’ is now a common word in our vocabulary (much to my disappointment) and it is no surprise that the ‘Face With Tears of Joy’ was Oxford dictionary’s word of the year in 2015.

Full Circle
The parallels between the emoji user and 40,000 year old pre-historic cave man, painting on walls, hold similarities. Just like an emoji, cave men and women used paintings to help aid communication, there were no letters, just simple painted symbols. These paintings acted as stage directions or visual clues that aided story telling. Emojis perform exactly the same task when messaging and posting on social media.

An emoji can change the entire context of the sentence it is connected to, and dismiss any wrong interpretation of meaning. At Liven Creative, we understand that context is of paramount importance when visually communicating your message, whether it be via printed literature or a digital experience. Our clients trust us to deliver stunning visuals that clearly communicate and stand out in a busy market place.