Displaying items by tag: Smiley faces

In 1972, French journalist Franklin Loufrani was tasked with spearheading a feel-good campaign for the France Soir newspaper. The publication’s goal was to counter widespread social and political unrest prevailing at the time. So it came to pass that Franklin Loufrani created the yellow smiling face that is internationally recognised today as ‘Smiley’, with the simple logo establishing itself as a beacon of hope and positivity for generation after generation.

That smiley face you add to the end of your text messages might be having more of an impact than you realise - new research is showing human brains have learned how to react to emoticons as they would real facial expressions.