Harvey Ball created the iconic smiley face symbol

World Smile Day is celebrated on the first Friday of October, a commemoration tied to the history of the iconic yellow smiley face. The symbol was created in 1963 by American designer Harvey Ball.

Ball was commissioned by the State Mutual Life Assurance Company in Worcester, Massachusetts, to design an image to improve employee morale during a period of corporate change. The design, consisting of two black dots, a curve, and a yellow circle, took less than ten minutes to complete, for which Ball received 45 USD.

Because neither Ball nor the company registered the design, the symbol spread globally through buttons, posters, and various commercial products. While the image became a staple of popular culture and was later commercialized by others, such as the Spain brothers and Franklin Loufrani, Ball did not receive the financial windfall associated with the symbol's massive global reach.