no. 8

SELECTED BYART CHANTRYTHE HAPPY FACEDESIGNERUNKNOWN

In graphic design circles, there is an ongoing and vociferous debate about the authorship of the happy face (a.k.a. “Mr. Smiley”). This image has been around so long and has been through so many permutations and redefinitions, that it has become one of the most basic and essential images in the dictionary of graphic design. It’s possibly the most ubiquitous (and therefore most prominent) bit of graphic design of the last century.

The earliest current documentation of the happy face origins is its use as an advertising icon (not quite a logo) for the New York radio station WCMA (the “good guys”) in 1964. There is even a photograph of a young John Lennon wearing one of the radio station’s ...

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