The Fascinating Work of Jennifer Daniel (Google’s Emoji Boss)

Jennifer Daniel, Google’s Expression design team Design Manager, oversees gifs, emoji stickers, and camera filters. She is also an illusrator, author, and mother. Before her position at Google in California, Daniel worked for numerous years at the media giants the New York Times and Bloomberg Businessweek. I had the chance to see her speak at the Penny W. Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series last year, and she impressed the crowd with her wit and humor. Above all, Daniel’s vibrant, engaging work invites viewers to indulge in the fun parts of everyday life. She is a designer of true honesty and immense talent.

One of her works I find most alluring is Space: A Children’s Text Book published in 2015. The neon volume boasts pages of clean, beautiful graphics of planets and our solar system, and a plethora of facts about space. Although described as a “simple, attractive book of infographics,” let’s be real here, this book is for adults. I could spend hours poring over its colorful, info-packed pages, and will be sure to purchase a copy for my coffee table.

Image result for jennifer daniel space

Images from Space

Some of Daniel’s portfolio includes editorial illustrations, infographics, and animations. I am personally drawn to designers with bold, simple lines, and colorful graphics and Daniel certainly fits the bill. Drawing from both retro and modern inspirations, her illustrations are so aesthetically-pleasing to look at. Be sure to check her out!

All Work and No Play – Graphic for Good Magazine

 

Infographic for Bloomberg Businessweek

 

Marge Makes Comics #9: Penny Stamps Lecture is Good Sometimes Also Cyborgs

(Actually not The End!!!)

All in all, this lecture made me truly excited for the future of communication and connectivity between people and the Earth. Most of the time when we think of real genuine connections we make with others and the Earth we don’t think about technology, in fact we think of getting away from technology or taking technology out of the equation altogether. “Getting back to our roots” so to speak. But what Riba and Harbisson have done is show us a way to stay together by redefining our relationships to our bodies and the world. And that’s neat!!!

You can watch this lecture and other older lectures via this link.

And you can watch the Penny Stamps lectures in real time nearly every Thursday at 5pm at the Michigan Theater! Information about upcoming lectures here.

* This article from The Mary Sue puts the ablism of Cyberpunk 2077 in better words than I ever could

**Riba actually considers herself a “Phantom Cyborg”, due to the fact that she no longer has that implant in her foot but she still thinks of it like a phantom limb.