National Bank of Westchester Smiley

Yellow button with black text. One image depicts a smiley face and the says "have a nice day."

The National Bank of Westchester was first established in 1833 in White Plains, Westchester County, New York. At its height, the National Bank had thirty-eight branches across the country, with most concentrated in the Northeast. It was not until 1964 with the appointment of Lloyd Jones that the banking institution had its first African-American officer. The National Bank became inactive when the Chase Lincoln First Bank acquired it in 1979.

The classic yellow smiley face is comprised of a yellow circle, two black dots for eyes, and a black arc ending in serifs for a mouth. It was designed in 1963 by commercial artist, Harvey Ross Ball. Ball was commissioned by The State Mutual Life Insurance Company to create a happy face to raise the morale of their employees. His version was created in 10 minutes. The design was printed onto more than 50 million buttons. Neither Ball nor the company copyrighted this smiley, so it was continually used by other businesses in their promotions.
The design and concept is quite simple and was definitely used before Ball’s 1963 version. However, his has become the most iconic. Variations have been used for advertising campaigns and in popular culture ever since.