The internet is changing people’s language patterns. This is primarily through tight-knit communities and dubious censorship algorithms.
I thought: "What if this censorship gets so bad that people are forced to speak only in emojis, controlling what they can say and think?"
With Japanese-inspired design, a fun iPhone app, and upbeat trailer, Pictospeak has a deceptively playful gloss that invites users to condense their most complex thoughts into 3 cryptic icons or less.
The final piece for this project is an upbeat advertisement in the style of companies like Apple, with a hidden sinister undertone. I took inspiration from similar advertisements and Black Mirror to create a secretly satirical piece of media. The ad was posted to YouTube and Threads, with the latter social network attracting 25k views.
The emoji designs of Pictospeak are inspired by the works of Shigetaka Kurita, who made the first colour emoji set for Japanese Network Carrier “DoCoMo” in 1999. Lots of research into Japan’s unique phone culture was conducted, as I immersed myself in the world of designer ‘Keitai’ phones.
I sampled my own Messages to my mum for a week, seeing what words I said most, to come up with the original set, hence the emojis for London Underground lines.
The second move was to make the Pictospeak emojis actually work on my daily devices. The app lets you create your own animations to replace phrases and sentences, and works in iMessage with sticker functionality. App distribution was initially handled through the TestFlight service, so testers could download and send feedback. The app is now available as a product on the App Store.
