MoMA makes room for emojis

Nearly two decades ago, Shigetaka Kurita was given the task of designing simple pictographs that could replace Japanese words for the growing number of cellphone users communicating with text messages. Kurita came up with 176 of them. He called them emojis.

An estimated 74 per cent of Americans now use emojis every day, nudging the written word to the side in favour of a medium that can succinctly and playfully convey emotions in a society often more adept at texting than talking.

That marriage of design and utility prompted the art world to take notice. On Wednesday, the Museum of Modern Art in New York announced Kurita’s original 176 emojis would be added to its collection.