If you ever wanted to simply exclaim "Newman!" in a texting conversation, you now can with the new "Seinfeld Emoji" app for iOS.
The emoji app was created by Jason Richards, the man behind the @Seinfeld2000 parody account on twitter that puts "Seinfeld" characters in contemporary situations.
The app contains 42 emoji. There are a wide variety of characters, including Jerry and the gang, their parents and friends, as well as more rare participants in their strange lives, such as George Steinbrenner and the Soup Nazi. There are a variety of props, from a "Frogger" arcade machine to the Festivus pole. There is even a cartoon representation of the diner that they so often found themselves.
Richards worked with illustrator Kevin McCauley and developer Shahruz Shaukat to create the "Seinfeld Emoji." "I had an idea for emojis that looked like the four main cast members, and what they did just exceeded my expectations," Richards told Gizmodo.
Richards got requests from fans annoyed at what they see as critical omissions, such as the top of a muffin or a pony. A Pez dispenser was requested the most and made the lineup. McCauley told Gizmodo that drawing Newman was the most fun and drawing Kramer was the most difficult. The Puffy Shirt prop was the hardest object to depict in the emoji art style.
As a separate app from the rest of iOS, "Seinfeld Emoji" does have some significant limitations. The actual "Seinfeld" emoji can't access the keyboard and can't be put into Apple's emoji menu. So the app instead allows people to compose their messages in the "Seinfeld Emoji" app and then send it to a variety of other apps as image attachments, such as Messages, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Since the content is unofficial, Richards did a bit of a switcheroo, renaming the characters things like "Jary," "Gerge," Elane" and "Kragnor."
Richards says he thinks he is protected by fair-use and parody usage where copyright is concerned. But he is glad he got one endorsement from the Seinfeld camp. "Jessica Seinfeld [Jerry's wife] caught wind of this and Instagrammed of the original illustration," says Richards. She suggested the "Little Jerry" rooster be added to the Emoji lineup. And Richards has.
The "Seinfeld Emoji" app is live on iOS now and is available for free. A version for Android is being considered.
