Summer of 2008 is when Guzman scored an internship with Apple's design team, with just one year left to go on her way to earning an MFA in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).
She met Raymond, and the two set to work over the next three months, diligently drafting everything from smiley faces and other expressions ranging from silly to sweet, and sometimes rude, to cartoon versions of animals and nature, and everything in between.
"My first emoji was the engagement ring, and I chose it because it had challenging textures like metal and a faceted gem, tricky to render for a beginner," Guzman said.
"The metal ring alone took me an entire day. Pretty soon, however, I could do two a day, then three, and so forth. Regardless of how fast I could crank one out, I constantly checked the details: the direction of the woodgrain, how freckles appeared on apples and eggplants, how leaf veins ran on a hibiscus, how leather was stitched on a football, the details were neverending."
Guzman described how she would meticulously zoom in and out, perfecting every pixel.
During that time, she and Raymond bonded over shared experiences growing up in South Florida and the suspense of a review by Steve Jobs, as Raymond helped her to "kick off the training wheels," as she put it.
At the time, Guzman didn't necessarily realise she was working side by side with "one of the best icon designers in the world," as she now described Raymond.
Just like she came to the Cupertino campus with no idea what was in store for her, or even any knowledge of what an emoji was.
Guzma (pictured) and her mentor, who she names only as Raymond, are the individuals responsible for creating Apple's first emoji set, in 2008. Photo / Twitter
"This isn't type or an exercise in layout, these are luscious illustrations," Guzman recalled thinking to herself when she was handed her assignment, back at the time.
Emoji is actually a Japanese word, which roughly translates to "pictograph," and by now you can probably guess what that means.
But just to be thorough, here's the definition from dictionary.com:
A pictograph is "a pictorial sign or symbol," or "a record consisting of pictorial symbols, as a prehistoric cave drawing or a graph or chart with symbolic figures representing a certain number of people, cars, factories, etc."
So basically, Guzman's groundbreaking assignment was to take us all back to the Stone Age, so we could more effectively communicate across cultures, without using words.
"Raymond designed the face with tears of joy and pile of poo and I designed the red heart and party popper," she said.
Guzman also shared some interesting back stories on the digital images.
Did you know Raymond reused his poo swirl design at the top of the ice cream cone? Or that the turquoise dress with a brown waistband, standing alone, was inspired by dress Guzman's sister had created in real life?
Even the silliest of the designed were the fuel for designing sessions punctuated by tears of joy, laughing fits and personal stories that inspired the iconic images.
"For every emoji made, I learned something new. For every emoji made Raymond and I became better friends," Guzman said.
"The better friends we became, the better designer I became. In this case, friendship and design happened one emoji at a time. And that's a story worth sharing."
