It is easy to think of Emoji as being glib; existing without a history, or created without a designer. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Because they are so ubiquitous, it is important to inspect them with a critical eye — where they came from, what purpose they serve, why do they look the way they do, who made them that way, and how their design subconsciously affects our communication. From 90’s mobile phones and the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, to Unicode and Apple, together we will trace emoji back to their roots, and speculate on their future.