Today I saw a commercial for McDonald's and they've melded the smiley face graphic along with the big bosom M to create a happy face. This is evidence that American advertising will go to any lengths to make an impression. As a graphic artist I see things like this and they come immediately into consciousness. Others surely see and register the same information, but I do no know if it surfaces as a conscious awareness or ever actually gets thought about. Of course, the advert intends for it not to be overly obvious. Subliminal impressions are less likely to be judged.

To me the smiley face is an American icon. Though its origin has been made into fable in the movie, Forest Gump, in truth it was designed by an individual. One day I had in mind this funny idea of a cartoony graphic that suddenly seemed to express my mood perfectly, so I drew it up. It was the smiley face on a gravestone. Two or three days later someone mentioned a news paper article announcing the death of the man who originated the smiley face!

This simple idea--the circle, two dots and an upturned curve--has lasted as the smiley face in all its thousands of permutations because it holds some elements of truth for us, regardless of its silliness. There are those who are so fed up with it that they openly voice their loathing for it, but I rather like it. I have made use of it in many different ways and am most grateful for its appearance in most instances. It works. It can and usually does make you smile when you see it. When you smile, you release beta endorphins into your endocrine system and these, having a tag line of several hours, can keep you up for all that time. Imagine a few lines on a flat surface having such a powerful effect! It is quite miraculous. Such is the power of symbols and icons.

Once I was attempting to give a calligraphy lesson to a young fellow--I think he was about eight at the time--and he just wasn't in the mood to concentrate. I decided to detour and teach him about the power of a well placed line through the spoon full of sugar method. I hit on the smiley face. We drew it with the idea that it would mean this or that kind of emotion: now it means hysterically funny, now it means a little quizzical, now it means mildly amused, etc. All of these meanings we made by altering that circle with the two dots and a flexible line, and he was amused. But the game wasn't fully there yet. I still didn't feel he was sensing the workings, so we decided to go to whole body movements to capture the sensations we were trying to create with lines on paper. We played the game of guessing what I am or what I am feeling. One person observes while the other person travels across the floor using body language alone (no words) to communicate a character or emotion; a vampish lady, a drunken man, a happy kid, a sad old man, a confused person, an angry person, and on and on. Though it may sound like a game without substance, my sister and I used to play this game often when we were young, and we loved it and played it often. Now my young friend and I were playing and he was really enjoying it. His report at home that night was intriguing enough to bring his brother here the next week and the three of us played it and then actually wound up making up little plays. All this had begun from the little lines that make up a cartooned facial expression--evidence that lines well drawn can communicate, indeed. This is the power behind cartooning: subtle differences in line qualities along with appropriately disproportioned imagery and a warm hearted, clever meaning and voila! You are cartooning.

When speaking of the smiley face as an American icon, it calls to mind its Eastern counterpart, the t'ai chi symbol, otherwise referred to as the yin yang, or more appropriately the Great Ultimate. If viewed from a certain perspective, it too is really only two dots and a wavy line! But oh, how very different the meaning! And how inscrutable. In fact, as a toaist symbol, it defies definition. Thus it becomes mysterious, dependent upon the individual to interpret, yet somehow carrying a power that can affect us on a subliminal level. To compare the two icons may seem blasphemous to some, but is there not some truth to this idea? Both are readily recognizable, both public domain, both lasting and ubiquitous. From the point of view of a graphic artist, both present interesting problems to recreate. Though each may be rendered differently in terms of nuances of differences, each also remains basically simple and recognizable. One point I would like to report about the t'ai chi symbol is that those two dots-- the white one inside the black portion and the black inside the white portion-- must be drawn with great care. The white dot needs to be slightly smaller than the black to compensate for the optical illusion that would make the white, blaring out from its black background, appear larger. Also, a choice must be made as to the relative size of the two dots in proportion to their circles. Too large or two small and the symbol looses its impact and may even begin to appear silly.......and as for that silly smiley face, play away at making the eyes-- the two dots--- smaller or larger and see how the entire expression on the face changes. The one, to my way of thinking, expresses emotion, while the other references the mystery of existence.

Now I am having the thought that maybe the two together would make an amusing statement! T-shirt worthy? One on back and one on front? One on one side of chest and one on the other? One as a hat for the other? And the interpretation purely with the viewer, but for my part, saying, "Life's too mysterious, so let's share a smile about it."