I

n the past, a mere “haha” or “LOL” would have been sufficient in expressing laughter in digital messages, but now no longer so, as picture icons are taking over the function of words to illustrate feelings and expressions.

Images formed using symbols and icons, commonly referred to as emoticons, have evidently become part of the modern communication culture, as they are frequently used in various media, from short message service (SMS) to tweeting.

Andra, a 24-year-old employee of a private company, said that she often uses emoticons when “chatting” with her friends via SMS and BlackBerry Messenger.

“We can use emoticons to illustrate facial expressions or even actions, which can enhance, or complement, our words,” she said.

Andra showed The Jakarta Post her favorite emoticon, which resembled a caterpillar; the picture was predominantly made up of rows of brackets as well as other punctuation marks, such as commas, apostrophes and periods.

“I like it because it is funny and I just can’t imagine how they could think up such a thing,” she said, adding that she downloaded the emoticon from the Internet.

Herty Novandasari, a bank clerk from East Jakarta, also said she was fond of sending emoticons to her BlackBerry Messenger contacts.

“They’re just fun and attractive,” she said, while showing a number of pictures of a man laughing hilariously, which consisted of a combination of icons, punctuation marks and letters.

Like most people who use emoticons, Herty, 24, said that she simply copies and pastes them from messages sent to her by friends, and stores them in her cell phone to use as she pleases.

“I copied these from a friend; I’m pretty sure she copied them from someone else as well,” Herty said, adding that she had no idea who originally developed emoticons.

The degree of creativity in making such emoticons is far superior now, than during the days of simple smiley faces made up of colons and brackets.

Now, emoticons actually illustrate actions, such as singing or showering, some even manage to resemble the faces of public figures.

One of the people behind these improvements is Eka Nurul Kustia Otto from East Jakarta.

“Initially I made them just for fun, but people immediately showed great interest in them,” she said.

In June, Eka and three of her friends created a Twitter account named @autotextunyu, which regularly shares cute and quirky emoticons with its three thousand or so followers, who can copy and paste them directly from the account.

A couple of emoticons that the three have shared on their Twitter account recently show a series of cleverly arranged punctuation marks and symbols to illustrate activities, such as: “messing up boyfriend’s hair”, and “smoking a cigarette on the terrace after breaking the fast”.

“I can create more than five emoticons a day,” Eka said. “It takes less than a minute to create one if you already have an idea in your head.”

She added that she obtains various icons and symbols from websites and software applications and that her inspiration often comes from previously-created emoticons and current trends.

In Eka’s opinion, the main prerequisite for creating emoticons is to have lots of spare time.

“Apart from that, you need to be willing to sift through and research outmoded emoticons, and also have a good sense of humor,” she said.

Media studies expert from the University of Indonesia Awang Ruswandi said such forms of creativity are normal in communication.

“It’s just communication; everything is represented by symbols. Words themselves are symbols,” he said.