EmojipediaWe all know an emoji is worth a thousand words.
Those tiny little masses of pixels allow us all to say so much with so little effort; the touch of a finger can send a kiss, a round of applause, and even a little light berating should the situation require.
But this universal language of crying laughing faces and smiling poos is notoriously unrepresentative of its global users and unfairly maligned minorities of the world have long suffered without emojis that look like them.
Another new emoji update and STILL no redhead. #WeNeedARedheadEmoji pic.twitter.com/FPt57pNziR
— How to be a Redhead® (@HowToBeARedhead) November 2, 2016
But now, after tireless campaigning, redheads, bald people and people with afros, as well as those with grey hair could now get their own emojis.
The Emojipedia website has submitted these new emojis following demands for them to be more diverse.
The proposed pixels will ‘focus on appearances that aren’t currently supported in the informal skin tone/hair colour pairings used by many vendors’, according to the Emojipedia submission page.
EmojipediaWhen Apple released their new iOS update last year there was an outcry of the lack of diversity and an online petition conducted in Scotland which demanded the inclusion of ginger emojis got 20,000 signatures.
The emojis could be released as soon as 2018, if the Unicode Technical Committee of the Unicode Consortium – the overarching organisation that controls emoji – approve Emojipedia’s proposals.
I know a lot is going on rn but redhead is now an emoji candidate for next Unicode release + bald, curly, white hair https://t.co/Tfc2xOSA5F pic.twitter.com/D9ZVbhDavs
— Jeremy Burge ? (@jeremyburge) May 17, 2017
Redheads ? pic.twitter.com/sjHbGRLJ3m
— Jeremy Burge ? (@jeremyburge) May 17, 2017
Emojipedia Sample Images by @mindfad ??? pic.twitter.com/gD4jNc5nQH
— Jeremy Burge ? (@jeremyburge) May 17, 2017
Meanwhile, upcoming additions for 2017 include a breastfeeding woman, a bearded wizard emoji, as well as a UFO and genie.
The update, which will be available with the next iOS and Android patch, also features the highly-requested gender-neutral character and a person wearing a hijab.
It’s about time too *clapping emoji* *clapping emoji* *clapping emoji*!
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.