Think Big Have a Nice Day

Yellow background with black text across the center, the first letter swooping down to make a curving line back up to connect with the last letter, making a smile. Black text curved along the bottom portion of the button.

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.

“Have a Nice Day” is a colloquial expression when saying goodbye. It is often used in customer service in the USA with the consumer and the seller parting ways by telling each other to have a nice rest of their day. The first use of the phrase appeared in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in 1387. The phrase gained wider use in the 1920s and has continued on into present day. 

“Think big” is used as a term to encourage someone to think more ambitiously or grand.

The design of the smile also forms the shape of a cross, a symbol of Christianity.

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