First came the simple :-). Then there were a raft of emoji (😜,🎊, 📣); and now we have Hi Art, an app-based service that lets you create ginger and mixed-race emoji, meme-like stickers or reference art works in a matter of minutes, instead of waiting months for Apple to update its IOS servers.

“Emoji and stickers provide a way of expressing nuance in a text based conversation,” explain the creators of Hi Art, Brian Lederman and Nico Dios (formerly of graffiti crew Irak). “Emoji paved the way for that sort of communication. Nowadays people are used to the behaviour of augmenting their expression with images. Besides all that it is, is just fun!”
So far Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah, Instagram sensation The Fat Jew and rapper Cam’ron have embraced the platform, while a number of lesser known, but nevertheless talented, users have also contributed popular text-, illustration- and photography-based stickers. ‘Hand Jive’, a series of illustrated hand gestures, including the middle finger, is amongst the most popular.

In the US and Europe emoji and stickers are primarily used by those under 30, but in Japan they’re already common currency among all age groups, and a shift in behaviour is seeing an ever increasing range of people in the West adopt visual communication. With the ubiquity of smartphones, rise of messaging apps like Whatsapp, and time poor individuals we're only going to see more cute, funny and creepy creations filling in for our long-winded texts. It's going to be 🙌,🎆!