Emoticons for Skype

I collaborated with the exceptionally talented Jon Hicks to update and refresh the entire Skype emoticon palette to adapt to higher display density devices

The launch of devices such as the iPhone 4 and Motorola Droid with higher PPI screens pushed the mobile team into moving beyond simple pixel-doubling and a realization that a total overhaul was necessary to futureproof the work.

As a team this was a huge task over several months — we had to consider and make informed decisions on pixels vs. vectors; the arrangement of the emoticon palette on different form factors, the merits of PNG and SVG-T; balancing line weights at different sizes and most crucially of all, keeping a sense of the original set without drifting too much into 'quirky'.

Jon talks more about the process on his journal.