Emojis have become an indispensable part of modern communication, allowing people to easily convey their feelings and thoughts at the mere click of a button. In 2015, to the surprise of many, the “Face with Tears of Joy” emoji was even selected as Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year. Seeing this, Saigon-based designer Maxk Nguyễn had an idea: “Why don’t I mix those tech icons with symbols of daily life in Saigon?” This light bulb moment culminated into the Saigon Emoji project. From streetside fruit vendor selling baskets of Instagram likes and Facebook Reactions to old mailboxes with unread notifications and a street cleaner sweeping away the past hour’s internet browsing history, Nguyễn’s fun series embeds these familiar digital symbols and emojis with photos of Saigon locals as a way of presenting the city and its stories through a universal language.
近年来，Emoji表情符号成为了现代人沟通过程中一个不可缺少的元素，一些无法用语言表达的想法或情感却可以用一个emoji符号轻松传递。emoji的喜极而泣符号更是在2015年的时候破天荒地成为了英国牛津字典的年度风云词汇。听到这则新闻，来自越南西贡 （胡志明市）的设计师 Maxk Nguyễn冒出了一个想法：当这种简单的数位图画影像和西贡的生活景象结合在一起，结果会是怎样？ 《Saigon Emoji》就此诞生。坐在路边贩售水果的越南阿姨，果篮里装满的却是爱心和点赞符号；老房子的旧式信箱右上角冒出红色的未读邮件数字；清道夫的扫把下是上一小时的网络浏览记录。Nguyễn将这些数位符号带入西贡人的日常生活中，用emoji这个无国界之分的语言，讲着他家乡的故事。
