Emojis: Tiny symbols with big meanings in the digital age

Global communication

The pandemic led to more health-related emojis being used, like the syringe emoji, which saw significantly increased usage from 2020. Social media studies show that more than one in five tweets now include at least one emoji. Five billion are sent daily through Facebook Messenger, while half the comments on Instagram contain one or more emoji.

Used to convey happiness, satisfaction, frustration, or discontent, emojis can lighten the tone, making communication feel friendlier and more human. They are also universal and highly context-dependent. Yet, as simple as they are, their introduction is not random and haphazard.

Instead, it is structured and organised, channelled through the Unicode Consortium, a not-for-profit organisation that oversees global emoji standards. On 10 September 2024, the Consortium approved its latest release, adding a range of new emojis to the existing library.

While the Consortium is responsible for approving new additions, Emojipedia acts as the main reference site, categorising emojis into nine main groups (faces, people, objects, activities, etc), with each category then having sub-categories (smiling and loving faces, sleepy or sick faces, etc). This year, new additions include plant roots, a harp, a leafless tree, a fingerprint, a shovel, a purple blot, the flag of Sark (an English Channel Island), and the most eagerly awaited: an exhausted face.

Releasing new emojis is neither simple nor quick. Key to doing so is the Consortium. Supported by a network of experts and volunteers, it has over 30 members from academic, governmental, and corporate institutions. Built on principles of transparency and openness, it ensures the delivery of reliable software. 

The name 'Unicode' reflects three primary goals: universality (aiming to cover all languages worldwide), uniformity (relying on fixed-length codes for efficient accessibility), and uniqueness (with each symbol assigned a single, unambiguous interpretation).

Unification process

Computers rely on binary digits (0s and 1s) to process and understand data. To store and interpret characters and symbols, each is assigned a number through encoding systems (known as character encoding), but different languages and systems in different countries were creating compatibility problems. For instance, the codes used in German differ from those used in Arabic.

As the internet grew and international communication expanded, it became clear that numerous encoding systems hindered effective communication because the same number could represent different characters in different systems, or the same character could have multiple codes.

To address this issue, the Unicode Consortium developed a unified solution that allows computers to understand all languages and symbols consistently. It created a global standard for character encoding, known as Unicode. This simplified the encoding process by providing each character with a unique number, regardless of language or operating system, enabling computers to process text faster across different writing systems and alphabets without duplicating values for any character or symbol. 

Unicode also manages the addition of new characters, assigning them unique codes and ensuring that other systems recognise them. In 2007, the Unicode standard was applied to emojis, organising and integrating them as a global standard. The prompt was US firms entering the Japanese market, where effective communication meant adapting to Japanese preferences, including the use of images and icons in emails. 'Emoji' means 'pictogram' in Japanese.

A new emoji is born

Designing a new emoji is not as simple as it might appear. The design must be clear and easily recognisable, even when scaled down, balance visual expression with the intended message, and look distinct from all other existing emojis.

Anyone can submit a proposal for a new emoji to Unicode, with detailed explanation and justification, but if a design fails to meet the required standards, it will not get Consortium approval. The primary purpose of emojis is to express visual ideas and emotions clearly without lengthy text. If an emoji cannot achieve this goal in a reduced size, it will be rejected. The whole process can take a year, passing through various committees within the organisation. 

When the committees finalise their list of approved designs, these are sent to the likes of Google, Apple, Microsoft, X (formerly Twitter), and Facebook, to let them design the emoji according to their specific standards and platform requirements. Unicode then assigns the new emoji a name in multiple languages and stores it in its databases.

Once the design and data reviews are complete, the approved emoji is released on various platforms, making it available for users. The newest batch of emojis should appear on mobile devices by early 2025. Google has said they will be available on Android devices from March (they are already accessible as a web font online).

With each new emoji release, users gain more ways to express emotions and ideas in a simple, visual format, and through the efforts of Unicode and Emojipedia, we see a continuous evolution in their design and adoption to meet the diverse needs of users worldwide. As a result, emojis will continue to enhance digital communication for years to come.