Aha! Visual Literacy-Emoticon Reflection

Ever since talking about emoticons in class I have noticed how much I use emoticon to help support the meaning I want to come across, especially when texting people.

Source: Screen shot taken from iPhone.

My friends and I have developed a special language with the emoticons and an outsider would not understand the exact meaning we wanted portray with the emoji. I like to think of emojis not as a substitute for words, but more as a substitute for people to convey their feelings and emotions. Below is an example of an emoticon that has special meaning for my friends and I. If you were to say something, such as who would like to go to Cherry Berry, more than likely one of us would respond with this emoji. To us it means, we are definitely down to go and get some Cherry Berry!

Source: Screen shot taken from my iPhone.

One place I do not use emoticons is in the workplace. I send a lot of emails, but within those emails I use only text, I do not support what I want to come across with emojis. I wanted to do a little research to see how emoticons were being used in the workplace. I found an article which was The communicative Functions of Emotions in the Workplace Emails, and it states emoticons serve three communicative functions when used in the workplace email. The first function is when they are used following signatures, they are a way to portray a positive attitude. The second function is when they are used to show the text is suppose to communicate as humorous. The third function is when they are used as hedges, when used with expressive speech they work as strengtheners and when following directions they are used as softeners (Skovholt et al., 2014).

Source: Screen shot of signature for email taken from computer.

My signature at the end of an email from my Camp Adventure work email. Creating a happy feeling with the text Catch the Magic! and the smiley face emoticon. This is an example of the second function of using emoticons to communicate.

I am interested to see how emoticons continue to integrate into our lives in the future! 

Works Cited

Skovholt, K., Grønning, A., & Kankaanranta, A. (2014). The Communicative Functions of
Emoticons in Workplace E-Mails: :-). Journal Of Computer-Mediate Communication, 19(4), 780-797. doi:10.1111/jcc4.12063