New Skype Emoticons is a post on The Hickensian

Working with Steve Pearce and Mark McLaughlin from Skype, and genius animator Julian Frost, Hicksdesign has updated the complete set of Emoticons for its desktop and mobile clients. Currently released in the Windows and Android versions, Mac and iOS will follow later.

The brief was simple, update the Emoticon set, providing multiple sizes (20,30,40,60,80px), but retain the style that is already familiar to millions of users worldwide. The original set was designed by Priidu Zilmer and only existed in one size – 19px. An odd numbered grid can allow you to centre elements better, but the decision was taken to start at 20px to allow more straightforward enlargement. This meant some of the basic proportions of the eyes to head had to be changed.

The 20px was the first to be drawn in each icon, followed by the 80px. For the new icons, the Photobooth Reference technique was employed a lot…

My favourite part of the project was seeing Julian give them life, and provide motion that I could never have achieved. That dance icon is a work of modern art. Emo is another personal favourite

In all, there are now 98 emoticons. It’s been a fantastic project to work on, and with superb clients to boot.