A smiley, sometimes referred to as a smiley face, is a basic ideogram that represents a smiling face. Since the 1950s it has become part of popular culture worldwide, used either as a standalone ideogram, or as a form of communication, such as emoticons. The smiley began as two dots and a line to represent eyes and a mouth.

The smiley is the graphic representation of a facial expression. In written communication, the person writing expresses that he or she is delighted or joking. In the 1960s, commercial artist Harvey Ball drew a smiling face with a circle, two dots and a curved line. This is how the symbol of high spirits came about.