i-mode Emoji
iモード絵文字 / 1998-1999 / Style / Symbol Systems
One hundred and seventy six pictographs that tell faces, weather and things apart using only the placement of dots on a twelve by twelve grid. Shigetaka Kurita drew them for NTT DOCOMO's i-mode, and MoMA holds the original set.
At a glance
Visual cues
- Figures fitted to a twelve by twelve grid
- Shapes made of mass rather than of line
- Set inline at the size of a letter
- Faces, weather and symbols at one coarseness
Best used for
- Designing signs that must read at the size of a letter as one set on a coarse grid
- Telling state by a figure instead of a word where only a few dots can be lit
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Dictionary entry
- Type
- Built from masses of dots rather than lines, sized to sit inline at the height of the text
- Composition
- The coarse grid fixed first, every figure told apart inside that one cell
- Material
- Faces, weather and things held at one coarseness, dots reduced to the limit where they still read apart
- Caution
- Chasing fine detail inside the grid clogs the dots, and at the size of the text the figure no longer says what it is.
- Further study
- Kurita's original set / Unicode standardization / comparing vendor design dialects
Related entries
- Pictogram System (案内用ピクトグラム)Shared effects: Technique / Intimacy.Compare i-mode Emoji and Pictogram System
- Kawaii (カワイイ)Shared effects: Intimacy / Play.Compare i-mode Emoji and Kawaii
More from Symbol Systems
Continue through styles in the same Symbol Systems family, prioritised by shared effects.
- Braille (点字)Shared effects: Intimacy / Technique.
- Care Symbols (洗濯表示)Shared effects: Intimacy / Technique.
- Proofreading Marks (校正記号)Shared effects: Technique / Intimacy.
Browse all Symbol Systems entries
Cite this entry
The dictionary is meant to be linked to. Take whichever form fits where you are writing.
- Link
- https://indexstyle.org/styles/imode-emoji
- Markdown
- [i-mode Emoji — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/imode-emoji)
- HTML
- <a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/imode-emoji">i-mode Emoji — IndexStyle</a>