iMessage Wingding support

Before emojis, there was a glyph system known as Wingdings. Originally created in 1990, it is a set of glyphs you can use but it’s a font.

I remember cutting my teeth (what a weird saying) in Adobe Illustrator when I was in high school and first ran into this font. I accidentally changed my heavy metal grunge font to Wingdings, thought, “huh, that’s weird” and never thought about it much after that.

Upon having the idea for iMessage to support Wingdings, I started to wonder why this language exists at all. Apparently, it was created so graphic designers could quickly add symbols to their designs. I like to imagine a world where we never evolved past Wingdings. Imagine what brands and websites would look like if designers were relegated to these primitive diamond, square, and circle shapes.

This idea is not deep and doesn’t map back clearly to any user pain point. However, Apple does let you change your language since they are an international company. As a thought exercise, it’s humorous to consider what life might be like if one side of a conversation in iMessage could change their language, but not both. This would create a lot of confusion.

Have a friend who you can’t understand, even in English? Send them this newsletter. https://sorens.beehiiv.com/