The Evolution Of Emoji Into A Language

Emoji’s count amongst one of the most recent attempts to translate emotional expressions into a universal sign system. From enthusiasm for visual languages, type designer Edgar Walthert included a wide variety of pictograms in the sans-serif typeface ‘Logical.’

This folded broadside acts as an expansion of The Annex of Universal Languages, originally commissioned by The Palace of Typographic Masonry in Amsterdam. Edgar Walthert moves through eighteen important steps in the evolution of emoji becoming a global lingua franca and covers arguments that agree and disagree with this position.

The little colorful icons known as emoji have infiltrated our digital communication since their international rollout by Apple in 2011. But are emoji a language, or as some linguists argue are they instead comparable to gestures, a kind of mimicry we use alongside our verbal communication?

The folded A1 poster documents the roots of emoji and shows attempts that use emoji as a language. The verso presents controversies and informative tidbits about popular emoji, sorted by their amount of usage.

Designed by Edgar Walthert

Single broadside, full color, 23.4 × 33 inches
Folded, 4.7 × 8.3 inches

Single broadside, full color, 23.4 × 33 inches
Ships folded, 4.7 × 8.3 inches