Emoji

The black back cover of a book, shown against a plain white background. The cover has several paragraphs of white German text, and below it, a color photo of a smiling East Asian man in a blue top. He is holding a small, white notepad with two simple emoji faces drawn on it. A barcode is visible near the bottom.

A paperback book titled EMOJI VON SHIGETAKA KURITA lies at an angle on a white background. Its black cover is decorated with a colorful grid of the original pixelated emoji icons.

A photograph of an open book laid flat, showing a two-page spread with eight colorful, pixel art icons. The left page has icons for a toilet, restaurant, café, and bar. The right page has icons for beer, fast food, a high-heeled shoe for a boutique, and scissors for a hair salon. Each icon has a label in German.

An open book on a white surface. The left page contains German text. On the right page is Barbara Kruger's 1989 artwork, Untitled (Your body is a battleground). It features a black-and-white photograph of a woman's face, split down the center. The left side is a positive image, while the right is a negative. The phrase Your body is a battleground is overlaid in white text on red rectangular blocks.

A digital image showing the original set of 176 emoji created by Shigetaka Kurita for NTT DOCOMO in 1999. The colorful, pixelated icons are arranged in a grid on the right side of the image and include symbols for weather, zodiac signs, food, technology, and emotions. A caption in German is visible in the bottom-left corner.

A chart of eight minimalist, pixel art weather icons with their German names. Top row, from left: a red sun (Sonne), a blue cloud outline (bewölkt), an orange lightning bolt (Gewitter), and a red spiral (Taifun). Bottom row, from left: a blue umbrella (Regen), a snowman outline (Schnee), horizontal blue dashes for fog (Nebel), and a closed blue umbrella (Nieselregen).

A white page displays eight icons in a retro, pixelated style. In two rows are the numbers 5, 6, 9, 0, 7, and 8 in black boxes, followed by the letters OK in red between two lines, and a red pixel art heart. Each icon is labeled in German.

A page from a German publication displaying the Philosoraptor meme on the left. The meme features a green, illustrated Velociraptor in a pensive pose with its claw to its chin. Text on the meme reads, Who put the alphabet in alphabetical order? A block of German text on the right analyzes the function of memes in culture.

A book page displaying eight black and white pixel art icons with German labels in a two-by-four grid. The top row shows a fountain pen, a person's silhouette, an arrow with the word SOON, and a toggle switch in the ON position. The bottom row shows a chair, a moon and star, an arrow with the word END, and an analog clock.

Emoji

Shigetaka Kurita. Die Erfindung der Bildzeichen in digitaler Kommunikation

€ 18.00

VAT included. Shipping costs will be calculated at checkout

Author: Paul Galloway

By (artist): Shigetaka Kurita

Translated by: Sofia Blind

April 2024, 88 Pages, 190 Photos

Paperback

156mm x 160mm

ISBN: 978-3-7757-5628-0

HATJE CANTZ VERLAG
Mommsenstr. 27
10629 Berlin
Germany
E-Mail: contact@hatjecantz.de

According to Article 9(7) of the GPSR Regulation, no additional security information is required for books without supplements or special functions.

Press download

In 1999 the Japanese mobile phone company NTT DOCOMO released a set of 176 emoji for mobile phones and pagers. Designed by Shigetaka Kurita, a young designer at the company, on a twelve-by-twelve-pixel grid, the emoji facilitated the nascent practice of text messaging that accelerated dramatically when messaging moved to mobile devices.
Emoji—a portmanteau of the Japanese words e, or "picture," and moji, or "character"—when combined with text, allow for more nuanced intonation. Filling in for body language, they reassert the human within the deeply impersonal, abstract space of electronic communication. Now, with more than 2,600 in use, emoji have evolved far beyond NTT DOCOMO's original set into an essential, global, and increasingly complex companion to written language.
This volume, originally published in English as part of the MoMA One on One series, Paul Galloway traces the DNA for today's emoji in Kurita's humble pixelated designs.