Communication took a giant leap forward in the 80's as personal computers began making their way into people's homes and offices. Electronic mail evolved as the next step in international correspondence. Not surprisingly, SMILEY® was there from the beginning. It is said that the very first email ended with the sideways image of SMILEY® like so :) This symbol came to be known as an 'emoticon'.
Soon, many emoticon variations were introduced, creating a vast lexicon of universal understanding. It became apparent that although language barriers would be a natural aspect of email correspondence, the world wide use of emoticons would allow people to express feelings quickly, easily and without the written word.
Nicolas Loufrani took, in 1997, the next bold step in developing and promoting this universal language. An exciting and expanded alphabet of upright, color icons has been created and can now be easily downloaded from the www.smileyworld.com website.
Thousands of icons and characters classified in categories such as emotions, animals, zodiac, occupations & nations are accessible on the web in the Smiley Dictionary section. You can now enhance your E-mail and chat room conversations with these clear, clever expressions of emotion as easily as you type your name.