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Emojis are in essence a new form of language, and as that, it becomes clear that having them or not having them as possible ways to express can seriously make the symbols get different meanings.
Sure, the smiley face, the winky face and the poop emoji are all funny and we use them a lot. But, at the same time, there are ideas that need to be conveyed and are not.
Some time ago, a few years back, the emoji library only had one skin tone for all emojis, that yellow emoji color that unified everybody. In time, we got to have seven different skin tones and now ethnic diversity is a concept that we can convey when talking via emojis.
Similarly, we only had the woman dancing emoji, and the rest of the activities were performed by men. Now, the category person activity showcases both a man emoji and a woman emoji for each activity.
However, there are still under-represented minorities and the emoji library could help visualize them.
Symbols are important, and being able to talk about something means giving it an identity.
What started years ago as a cool addition to our chat conversations evolved, and it has become a full blown language on its own right, now it´s time for us to help make the emoji language a better one.
5 Emojis we really need ASAP
1- Children playing emoji
Children make up for a big chunk of humankind, and their main activity should be to be able to play and enjoy their childhood, as established by the Children´s Rights, the right to play is extremely important, and is perhaps the most distinguishable thing that children do.
Tweet this quote2- Elder people activities
It seems that the emoji language started as an adult white male language, and now it has evolved and went a more inclusive route and is now ethnically diverse, gender diverse, but it only focuses on young adults. We already discussed children being under-represented, well, the other extreme, older people, our elders, are also forgotten in this visual language.
3- People with Disabilities
Our cities and spaces are difficult enough for people with disabilities to also being forgotten by a language. Apple already proposed the inclusion of emojis for people with disabilities (Person on Wheelchair, Person Deaf, Person Blind, Service Dog) and we fully support the idea.
4- Disease Awareness Ribbons
Now, these emojis would be so easy to add to the library, and they are iconic enough. The pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness, the yellow ribbon for suicide prevention, the red ribbon for HIV/AIDS awareness, the blue ribbon for prostate cancer, the brown ribbon for colon cancer, the green ribbon for liver and kidney cancer, the purple ribbon for pancreatic cancer and Alzheimer´s disease, the Burgundy ribbon for brain aneurysm, the lavender ribbon for Epilepsy, the teal ribbon for ovarian cancer, the orange ribbon for leukemia, and the black ribbon for mourning.
5- People Reading and Studying
Education is the best and biggest tool for growth, and to help people overcome many obstacles, however, reading and studying are not activities the emoji persons perform. It should also be added.
What emoji do you think should be added to the emoji library? Let me know in the comments section.