Illustration by Rachel Maves.

Since they arrived on our keyboards five years ago, emoji have changed how we communicate. Our texts are all dotted with 😊 and 😂 and ❤️, maybe even some 🍆. But, where do they come from? How are new emoji created? 

In this mini-series on emoji, I answer that question. I go on a quest to create an emoji of my own, and chronicle every step of the way. In part 1️⃣: the proposal.

Brought to you by:

• Fracture: Photos printed in vivid color directly on glass. Tweet a link to this episode with #YogaEmoji to enter the giveaway for a print the beautiful artwork for this episode (featured above).

• Hover: The best way to buy and manage domain names. Go to hover.com/macintosh to get 10% off your first purchase.

Members can hear exclusive deleted scenes from this episode about another person smitten by the idea of proposing an emoji, and Unicode's love of completion. If you're not already a member, sign up here.

Music in this episode is by the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder and Mark Bramhill. Theme music is by Terique Greenfield. Editing by Rob McGinley Myers. 

My beautiful, designer-drawn emoji. Illustration by Aphee Messer.

You can read my full proposal for "Person Meditating" on the Unicode website.

Season 3 of Welcome to Macintosh starts on August 18th, with new episodes coming out every other Friday. Take a listen to hear what's in store this season.

My emoji Pile of Poo bracelet.

Matt frantically translating to emoji.

Matt is crowned the emoji champion  

Scenes from the first Emojicon — a conference all about emoji.

Kim Jong-Un with his iMac.

Apple's critics regularly complain about making its products too locked down, about how you have to go through the App Store to get software. But Apple's 'walled garden' looks positively open compared to Red Star OS, the leaked operating system of North Korea.

Welcome to Macintosh is produced by Mark Bramhill. Thanks to Kolin Pope and Josh Swartz for help editing today's episode. Music is by the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder.

Apple recently released macOS Sierra, the latest version of the Mac operating system. It had new features in it, but one of the most notable changes was something it left out — the X, the Roman numeral 10, from the name. It's a small, unimportant change, but it's kind of the end of an era. I talked to Apple history buff Stephen Hackett to reflect on the name's past.

You can check out Stephen's blog post about the lingering Xs in macOS Sierra. Also, you can watch videos of people who are really upset about people calling it Mac OS Ex.

Welcome to Macintosh is produced by Mark Bramhill. Thanks to Kolin Pope and Josh Swartz for help editing today's episode. Music is by the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder.

Tom, Joe, and Ryan proudly displaying their t-shirt trophies.

This summer, Apple opened their first retail store in Brooklyn, up in Williamsburg. It was near my apartment, so with recording gear in tow, I went to investigate. It was my first Apple Store opening, but I got to talk to some seasoned Apple Store opening veterans.

The story of how a YouTube video made Steve Jobs dance.

Featuring Jonathan Mann and MG Siegler.

Find all 2500+ of Jonathan's songs on his YouTube channel or on his Bandcamp.

Download the fantastic credits song Jonathan and BMC wrote for the show (it's the new ringtone here at Welcome to Macintosh HQ).

Music in this episode is by Jonathan Mann and the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder. Theme music is by Terique Greenfield.

Thanks to Kolin Pope and Rob McGinley Myers for editorial assistance, and to John Gruber and Sean Wolter for their support. 

This episode is brought to you by:

• Harvest: simple, elegant time-tracking software. Get a 30-day free trial, then use offer code 'MACINTOSH' to save 50% on your first month.

• Wealthfront: a simple, low-cost, automated investment service that makes it easy to invest your money the right way. Welcome to Macintosh listeners get their first $15,000 managed for free for the life of their account.

For the past couple of years, Alex Kapelman has been plagued by an iPhone notification sound that constantly reminds him of one of his favorite songs. So he went on a journey to find out why — and learned that he's not alone.

You should listen to more of Alex's music podcast Pitch, it's really fantastic.

The amazing remix of Sloop John B and our ad music are by the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder. Theme music is by Terique Greenfield.

This episode is brought to you by:

• Harry's: a great shave at a fraction of the price. Use offer code 'MACINTOSH' to save $5 on your first purchase.

• Harvest: simple, elegant time-tracking software. Get a 30-day free trial, then use offer code 'MACINTOSH' to save 50% on your first month.

A reflection on how John Siracusa began writing reviews of Mac OS X for Ars Technica.

• John's review of Infinite Loop
• John's review of OS X Yosemite
• Blog post announcing the end of his reviews

This extra is brought to you by Backchannel: a better way for developers to collect feedback from beta testers of your iOS apps. Coming soon.

Music for Welcome to Macintosh is by the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder.

"Downloading" programs in the '80s.

Photo via Ars Technica

• Guests
  • Jason Snell
• References
  • Compute! Magazine
  • Commodore PET
  • BASIC programing language
  • Type-In program
  • Ars Technica article on Compute!'s type-in programs
• Music
  • Music is by the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder.

Brought to you by:

• Harvest: simple, beautiful time-tracking software. Use code MACINTOSH for 50% off your first month.