Your favourite UBC landmarks rendered as emoji mosaics

It can be really, really hard to be original these days. But if you spend some time on the UBC Prospective Undergraduate Facebook page, you will see that this couldn't be further from the truth when it comes to marketing strategies to appeal to prospective students.

As most people do these days, UBC has resorted to emojis to communicate to students the outstanding potential of our school. Words couldn't articulate the beauty of our campus, nor the sweetness of a Blue Chip cookie, nor the dustiness of our construction sites – but, emojis can.

As an emerging art form, dare I say movement, emoji pointillism may be the best way to advertise our school. Sure, a picture can say 1000 words, but a picture made up of emojis can say at least 1000 times more.

To put this theory to the test, I've selected a few images that may also be used to capture the essence of UBC.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of UBC is a Birkenstock.

Emoji Pointillism surpassed my expectations as a Birkenstock, composed of donuts, thumbs up and chickens, says UBC better than any ad campaign could.

I tried an image of a Blundstone clad hipster overlooking Vancouver, and I was equally delighted.

Next, I put an image of Wreck Beach to the test.

Somehow, the colony of nudists is more appealing as little baby heads.

This got me thinking, “If Wreck Beach could be improved in emoji, what could this do for our abundance of construction sites?!”

And lo and behold, the gaping hole that has interrupted my route to class looks much more fun when it’s made out of ? and ?s.

So I tried again with another construction site.

I was especially proud of this piece because if you squint, you can still make out the crane.

Here's a Buchanan Lecture Hall.

Have you ever seen an 8:30 a.m. lecture look this lit?

Can you tell this is Irving K. Barber Library?

I found the grandeur of Irving K Barber was really heightened, but also somehow just as claustrophobic, when made up of by magic 8 balls and calculators.

And last but not least, our President Santa Ono.

Want to jump on the emoji pointillism band wagon? Find it here.

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