The smiley face is so much a part of our culture that it seems as if it has been around forever. It hasn’t. It was created in 1963 and flowed from the creativity of commercial artist Harvey Ball.
Ball was tasked with coming up with some kind of image to help boost sagging morale at the State Mutual Life Assurance Company of Worcester, Massachusetts. Ball labored over the assignment for less than ten minutes, and when he was done, the smiley face had been born. Listen to a BBC radio documentary, Smiley’s People, about the creation of the icon here.
Ball received $45 for his work (about $350 in 2015 adjusted-for-inflation value). He did not copyright or apply for a trademark for this seemingly simple design. Within 8 years more than 50 million smiley face buttons had been sold around the world.
Ball died on April 12, 2001, at the age of 79 — presumably with a smile on his face because of the happiness he added to the world.
America’s First Airmail Flight Was a Spectacular Failure—30 Miles in the Wrong Direction and a Train Ride to Finish
On August 17, 1859, balloonist John Wise set out from Lafayette, Indiana, on a mission to revolutionize mail delivery. His destination was New York City, his transportation was a balloon named Jupiter, and his navigation system consisted largely of hoping the wind wanted to go in the same direction. It didn’t. What followed was five…
The Iron Riders: How Buffalo Soldiers Rode 1,900 Miles So the Army Could Decide It Didn’t Need Bicycles
In 1897, the U.S. Army sent 20 Buffalo Soldiers on a 1,900-mile bicycle expedition from Montana to Missouri. Armed with rifles, camping gear, and an apparently unlimited supply of determination, they battled mountains, mud, sand, and scorching heat. Nineteen completed the journey, proving that bicycles could serve military purposes. The Army celebrated the Iron Riders’…
William Phelps Eno: He Never Learned to Drive, So Naturally, He Wrote the Rules for Everyone Else
William Phelps Eno helped create modern traffic rules, traffic circles, and one-way streets. Even so, the Father of Traffic Safety never learned to drive.
Leave a Reply