An interview with an Apple emoji designer

 (shadycharacters.co.uk)

42 points | by nate 2 days ago

5 comments

  • aforty 24 minutes ago
    So cool to get the background story on this. I remember adding the Japanese keyboard here in the US just so I could get access to emojis.
  • holistio 59 minutes ago
    There is still no walnut emoji. Blonde-haired, black-skinned pregnant man? Yes. Walnut? No.
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    • j1000 51 minutes ago
      Also no thief emoji or pirate emoji. Can someone enlighten me why we don't have it?
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      • dagmx 43 minutes ago
        Simply because nobody has successfully pitched the Unicode group to add one.

        Anyone can pitch new emoji, they just have to go through the fairly easy but strict formal process.

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      • wvbdmp 16 minutes ago
        What’s next, a cowboy emoji? A ninja emoji? But seriously, as much as I like emojis, I kind of feel like they should stick to emotions. Maybe other intangible things. They’re hard to convey verbally (and succinctly), simple concrete nouns are good for a bit of fun and for UI icons, but really not very useful if we’re being honest. Unless you’re texting with a lizard, or my lazy elementary-school niece who shouldn’t really have a phone anyway…
    • wpm 57 minutes ago
      Be the petty, small change you wish to see in the world: https://joypixels.com/blog/how-to-submit-an-emoji-to-unicode
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      • holistio 1 minute ago
        I will be. Thanks.

        By the way, Walnut Creek is less than 100 miles from Cupertino.

        I love walnuts.

      • Jtarii 6 minutes ago
        Gotta love websites that hijack basic browser functions, in this case forcing smooth scroll on.
  • amelius 2 hours ago
    In case anyone is actually interested in the emoji:

    https://emojipedia.org/apple

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    • Aissen 54 minutes ago
      More specifically, it was this set: https://emojipedia.org/apple/iphone-os-2.2

      Interesting tidbit:

      > Emoji support required iPhone OS 2.2 and a SoftBank SIM card.

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      • amelius 34 minutes ago
        To be honest, the images look like things I've seen a hundred times over in comic books and not much more original than GenAI.
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        • reaperducer 20 minutes ago
          not much more original than GenAI.

          What exactly do you think the "GenAI" trained on?

        • throawayonthe 22 minutes ago
          is that not sorta the point? i don't get the genai reference
  • Tepix 1 hour ago
    Are the emojis on Apple (macOS, iOS etc) vector graphics these days?
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  • NoSalt 1 hour ago
    Why does that site feel like I am reading typed text on paper?
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