How to Make Smiley Face Icons

Smiley faces have emerged as a popular way for people to show emotion through text, on the internet, in email, instant messaging and other digital mediums. Because of this, they also are called emoticons. They are most commonly written with the eyes on the left and the rest of the face on the right--- although they can be created in either direction.

Things You'll Need

• Computer
• Keyboard
• Email or chat service

Instructions

Creating Smiley Faces in Digital Messages

1. Turn on your computer and open the messaging program of your choice.

2. Make the eyes. The colon and the equals sign are the two most common symbols for making eyes. The colon makes simple, round eyes, while the equals sign makes long eyes. Somewhat less common, the semicolon can be used to represent winking.

3. Make the mouth. The most common emotions are the left and right parentheses, which will create either a happy or sad face depending on the direction your emoticon is facing.

Tips & Warnings

• For a huge list of more complex emoticons that can be created using text, visit http://www.sharpened.net/glossary/emoticons.php.

References

• Emoticons
• Smiley Central

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish