Yellow smiley face with a blood drip by the left eye. 

Featured here is one of the most iconic images from the comic and film Watchmen: a bloodied smiley face. In the story, the morally bankrupt superhero the Comedian wears the button, and it becomes blood-stained during the course of the inciting event of the narrative. This design appears to be specifically tied to the release of the 2009 film adaptation of the comic.

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 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.

Yellow button with black text surrounding a smiley face

“Don’t Worry Be Happy” is a phrase used most often in the 1960s. It was spoken first by Indian Spiritual Guru Meher Baba 1894-1969. Baba believed himself to be an Avatar which is God in human form. In 1988, the musician Bobby McFerrin released a song titled “Don’t Worry Be Happy” and it was the first a cappella song to reach the Billboard 100.

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.

Illustration of a smiley with the Burger King logo for eyes on a white background

This was a promotional button given out by Burger King, a worldwide chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1953. The era that this button was given out was during Burger King’s peak years of advertising. After two decades of unsuccessful advertising campaigns they would eventually partner with CP+B to create “The King” character, until accusations of the ads being sexist or culturally insensitive, leading to the advertising taking a new direction in 2011. 

Yellow smiley face button with words making up the mouth and sunglasses. 

Bogus Books is a graphic novel publisher that was established in 2010. The creators of Bogus Books also host a YouTube show called Bogus World that is about the world of indie comics.

Green button with the illustration of a smiley face with big teeth meant to be Jimmy Carter's smile

Jimmy Carter was the President of the United States of America from 1977 to 1981. He sought to find peaceful solutions to problems and therefore received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Unfortunately, Carter was unable to serve a second term as President due to the continued issue of inflation and that U.S. Embassy members were being held as hostages in Iran during the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. Carter was able to solve the current unemployment problem during his term and claimed an increase of about eight million jobs. Carter wanted to create a Government that was “competent and compassionate.” The color green was used in all of Carter's campaign items.

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.

White text on a brown button. The image of a smiling totem pole top is in the center. 

Totem poles and other large wood carvings depicting both humanoid and animal faces are objects commonly produced by Pacific Northwest Indigenous cultures. Some of the Indigenous bands that are connected to the land now known as Alaska include Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian. A bold eye outlined in black and highlighted by a mask-like shape in turquoise is frequently seen on sculptures by the Tlingit, Haida, and Eyak peoples.

Upon the arrival of Westerners on the Pacific Northwest coast, Indigenous cultures and cultural artifacts were derisively viewed as curios and artifacts instead of the living cultural objects they are. The lasting effect of this colonial perspective on Indigenous cultural production and objects was that Indigenous works were produced for a tourist market and work with sacred meaning was used to encourage tourism.

Illustration of a smiling face on a yellow background

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 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.

Light green button with dark green smiley face. "NY" is written in the eyes and a "1" makes up the nose. 

Have info on this button? Contact us here.

Illustration of a smiley with a black phone on a blue background

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.

The rotary dial phone operates with pulse dialing. The caller chooses the numbers one at a time on a wheel that rotates. The receiver and microphone are built into one handset which has a cord that attaches to the rotary phone’s base that is plugged into the wall.

Hot pink button with the image of a smiley face. The smile is made up of the phrase "I love the ferry". 

A ferry is a type of vessel that carries people or items between two places. A famous ferry is the Staten Island Ferry which travels between St. George on Staten Island and Whitehall Street in lower Manhattan daily.

The I heart NY logo was created in 1977 by Milton Glaser for an ad campaign created by advertising agency Wells Rich Greene. The marketing campaign was sought by then-Deputy Commissioner William S. Doyle to increase tourism in the state of New York. The campaign was a wild success. The original sketch of the logo is permanently on display at the MOMA.

The logo has become iconic in pop-culture and has been imitated in many forms around the world.

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.