Shigetaka Kurita
Japanese interface designer and inventor of the emoji / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shigetaka Kurita (栗田 穣崇, born May 9, 1972, Gifu Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese interface designer often cited for his early work with emoji sets.[1][2][3][4] Many refer to him as the creator of the emoji, a claim that has been clarified in recent years.[5][6] He was part of the team that created one of the first emojis used solely for communication, a heart-shaped pictogram that appeared on an NTT DoCoMo pager aimed at teenagers. It went on to become the Red Heart emoji.
Shigetaka Kurita | |
---|---|
Born | May 9, 1972 |
Nationality | Japanese |
Known for | Emoji designer |
Notable work | NTT DoCoMo emoji set |
This development and the aftermath of its use led Kurita to design a set of 176 colored emojis. Many of the general-use emojis used today by Unicode can be traced back to Kurita's set. He now works for Dwango Co. Ltd., a Japanese game company owned by Kadokawa Dwango Corporation.
The NTT DoCoMo emoji set he created is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.[7]