Massachusetts, 1963. An American company is in internal crisis in the midst of a hostile merger process, and they decide to call on graphic designer Harvey Ball to create a new logo to help encourage their workers, creating the so-called “friendship campaign.”
Few of us know the true story behind the world's most famous yellow happy face, but the truth is that the smiley, one of the most influential icons of pop culture, was created in just 10 minutes.
The impact of the design was so great that it became a symbol of struggle and positivism, accompanying many social and cultural movements over the decades. In the 70s, the smiley was a symbol of protest and protest, especially for the hippie movement. By the end of the Vietnam War, this icon managed to become a symbol of hope for the whole of society, selling more than 50 million products and earning 1.4 million dollars in the USA. It was then that the American hippie movement began to spread to France, and the French journalist Franklin Loufrani patented the design, without managing to prevent the European rave movement from appropriating it in the 80s as a way of liberation and escape.
Since then, the iconic yellow smiley has generated sales of over 500 billion dollars in all its formats. The design was initially valued at $41.50 (about $400 today).
Harvey Ball at a signing during the 35th anniversary of the “smiley face”. Via @Domestika
And how did this smiley face become the face of more than 300 emojis that we use today on our mobile phones? The mass commercialization of the smiley and digitalization forced The Smiley Company (owners of the patent) to update itself, developing its 3D version. In 2001, they launched 470 emojis on the market, the first set of emojis in history.
Smiley currently owns the rights to use the smiley face in over 100 countries and internationally over 300 of the emojis we use every day.
And why yellow?
Harvey Ball said he imagined the smiling face the same way he imagined the sun shining.
