Visual language predates the written word and has trumped text communication since its inception. Thousands of years after engraving animal shapes on cave walls, we are returning to a time of image-based communications. Where cavemen had engravings and Egyptians hieroglyphics, the smartphone generation uses emojis, bitmojis and GIFs to successfully connect and communicate. One miniature, graphic image can represent a medley of situations, capturing an emotion, physical state or current location.
In an efficient, visual way these cases of digital imagery depict irony, sarcasm, emotional peaks and defeats in instances that words can’t. The modern consumer sends them with fervor to animate a text conversation: over 40 million Apple users have downloaded the emoji app to date.
In the Power of Chat Debrief, PSFK Labs explores how these current communication trends are being integrated into services; undoubtedly, these new sets of icons are used in place of words, and have changed the way in which peers talk to peers and consumers talk to brands. Businesses are also discovering the economic benefits of leveraging these new systems of digital communication, and developing systems that have actually changed the way that we communicate. Sentiments and sarcasm can co-exist in a single symbol—tears of joy, a party hat, a glass of wine or two girls dancing—thusly enriching the conversation.
The thing about visual cues is that they allow anyone to communicate without having to say, well, anything at all. Today, services are developed and powered entirely by these new digital ‘languages,’ specifically to empower people when words aren’t enough. When emotions, feelings or situations are hard to portray in text, and even harder to verbalize, visual language can make the incommunicable a little easier to convey. Symbols and fonts can depict first-hand perspectives of what it is like to endure social stigmas, negative states of mind or emotional and physical disorders.
To help children that find themselves in a negative situation, Abused Emojis is an emoji keyboard that allows children to convey difficult topics in a visual manner. The icon collection includes symbols that illustrate physical and emotional neglect or sadness, without them having to put words to the situation. In spelling out situations of self-harm, physical abuse or alcoholism, kids can express their situation without any potential shame or repercussion of voicing their concerns out loud. The keyboard is a project by BRIS, a nonprofit that runs a national hotline for children and teenagers that find themselves living in unsafe conditions.
The project enabled BRIS to efficiently facilitate safer communication and Abused Emojis demonstrate positive ethical implications of image-sharing as a vehicle for conversation. Other organizations and developers are similarly looking to rethink language and using design as a medium for improved communication.
Daniel Britton, a graphic designer with dyslexia, chose to portray the frustrations of the learning disorder by designing a typeface. In describing the struggles of his diminished ability to categorize letters, Britton found words alone would not suffice in conveying the message. Rather, the artist created a font dubbed Dyslexia to invite viewers into the world of a dyslexic. Using Helvetica as the base, the font subtracts almost half of the typeface lines, bringing social awareness and inspiring empathy to the sufferers of the disorder. To create a similar contextual, first-hand experience of what it is like to read when you are blind, the Union Nacional de Ciegos del Peru (UNCP) invited seeing readers to experience the first Facebook post in Braille. To decipher the post, a gray image with dots along the top, users move the mouse over the Braille to uncover its message; “We don’t want you to read like us, we just want your attention.”
The growth of icons and ephemeral messaging platforms have radically changed the ways people share and receive information over the last decade. Everyone from language experts to digital natives are using image-based systems to convey context in lieu of entire phrases or sentences. Rather than hinder our words when it comes to digital communication, emojis and the like are actually enhancing conversation and generating situational awareness.
Image-based or design-oriented messaging platforms have certainly changed the way people communicate, and they play an important role in changing the way people think about communication and stigmatized, hard-to-talk-about topics. In the sectors of mental health, science and beyond, non-traditional modes of communication can actually provide greater awareness and context between senders and their recipients, enabling us to communicate the otherwise indescribable.
Get The Power of Chat Debrief for more trends and key takeaways about modern communication. The report tackles how SMS, messaging and chat are once again prevalent and even integral to delivering best-in-class brand experiences to customers.
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