From cave paintings to emoji, humans have always used images to communicate. Now we live in a world where communication is increasingly text-based. It can be hard to convey the emotion, subtext, and nuances of verbal communication through email, Slack, texts, and social media. This talk will discuss how emoji and other visuals can enhance your written communications. You’ll learn how and when to use them, with a focus on professional settings. You’ll also consider the challenges of relying on visuals to communicate. Along the way, you’ll discover how ASCII art and smileys became emoji and how they continue to evolve. If you’ve ever wondered why it took so long to get a taco emoji or why your social media feeds are full of memes, this session is for you.

1. Emoji and Visual
Communication
Cassandra Faris
@cassandrafaris
👩💻💬

5. Communication evolves.
Emoji are part of that
evolution..

6. From ASCII to Emoji:
A Brief History

7. What are emoji?

8. Emoji enhance language
and communication.

10. :-)
@->–>—
=^..^=

11. o_O
(*_*)
＼
)
＾
▽
＾
(
／
T_T
(^.^)
٩
)
◕
‿
◕
｡
(
۶

12. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

13. “The Unicode Consortium lives at the
intersection of tech geek and font nerd.”
– Gretchen McCulloch, Because Internet

14. 2000 2010

15. Compatibility
Frequency
Distinctiveness
Completeness
New Emoji
Checklist

16. If words were good
enough for Shakespeare,
they should be good
enough for us.
-Credit: Gretchen McCulloch, Because Internet

17. The Written Word
and Emoji

19. Emoji are just one way
to add nuance and
emotion to writing.

20. EXPRESSING ~*nUAnce*~
OMG! Someone just said corgis
aren’t the cutest dogs in the
world. How can someone deny
that when they have those giant
ears, stumpy legs, and are full of
wiggles and silliness? Ugh! /rant

21. Emoji at Work

22. Emoji help make up for
the lack of body
language in written text.

23. Enhance, don’t replace
No more than 3
Level of formality
Company culture
Emoji at
Work
Checklist

24. Emoji Challenges

25. Self-explanatory emoji
Use sparingly
Minimizing Confusion

26. No assumptions
Use default skin tones
Being Inclusive

27. Accessibility
Use punctuation
No repeats
End of message
Limit usage

28. Team Culture
Keep it professional
Follow team’s lead
Informal only

29. :-)

30. @cassandrafaris
cassandrafaris@quickenloans.com

32. Enhance, don’t replace
No more than 3
Level of formality
Company culture
**TEMPLATE**

33. **header slide**

34. **lesson slide**