The Smiley

For the past 50 years, Smiley has embraced positivity, creativity, and collaboration, inspiring forward-facing optimism around the world. Born as a symbol for good news in the newspaper France Soir in 1972, Smiley is now a universally recognized TOP 100 global licensing company registered in over 100 countries. The Smiley Company helped to create a new universal language in the late '90s, launching the "Smiley Dictionary" - a list of Smileys which transformed ASCII emoticons into something understandable to all. Smiley's emotions have gone on to have an essential place in our society today, helping kids learn about themselves and their emotions (emotional intelligence). This became the starting point for how we use Smileys in technology and influenced the digital language we now use every day. Giving us a way to tell each other how we are feeling in a shorthand that is not easily expressed through traditional dialects. Smileys helped revolutionize technology, instigating a digital trend that now sees billions of them sent every day. Their legacy was a new brand made up entirely of thousands of expressive emotions, and by turning this innovation into an artform, SmileyWorld continues to create engaging products and promotions for market-leading partners that provide a unique platform for self-pression.