Not too long ago, when times were simpler, smileys as we know them today did not exist. The smiling, crying, crazy yellow faces were no option to communicate ones emotions.
It, communicating through smileys, had to be done using different keyboard combinations. When tilting the screen 90 degrees, a smiley of sorts could be discovered.

Since the introduction of smileys as we know them today, there is no more need to create them ourselves, using our keyboard.

Type families is an ongoing visual investigation into the world of ‘keyboard smileys’ using a variety of different (old & new) fonts.