The person in charge of the Emoji subcommittee of the Unicode Consortium asked himself a very simple question: “what is a family?” “. The answer is not so obvious and invites to change the way emojis represent them.
26: this is the number of “family” emojis available. Among these many choices, we find single-parent families, with a father or a mother, and 1 or 2 children, boys or girls; heteroparental families with several possible combinations for children; and since 2015, homoparental families with one or more children. Finally, there is a couple with an ambiguous definition “, supposed to be able to represent everyone.
There is already, it seems, enough choice for everyone to find what they are looking for. Yet, as Jennifer Daniel, the head of the Emoji Subcommittee of the Unicode Consortium (the body responsible for managing and creating emojis), pointed out in its newsletter of January 17, 2023, there is a problem. ” We have a lot of family emojis, and at the same time, we don’t have enough of them. »
“We cannot list all possible combinations” of family emojis
Emojis may already be numerous and represent a variety of models, there are always gaps. The different skin colors are therefore not available for these emojis, as it is impossible to vary the hair colors. Some families have more children, others have pets. ” We cannot list all possible combinations “, explains Jennifer Daniel rightly, “ but by only offering certain combinations, we also draw attention to the families excluded from these models. »
So, what solution for ever more inclusive representations? The answer, for Jennifer Daniel, is obvious: you have to go back. ” Subcommittee recommends visual deprecation of family emoji “, she writes in her newsletter. This seems counter-intuitive at first glance, but the proposed solution would nevertheless allow more flexibility in the representations of families. The example that appears in its newsletter (visible above) is quite telling.
Another project plans to give emojis new skin color options. ” The set of emojis is going to be redesigned to ‘complete groups’ of emojis with different skin colors “says Jennifer Daniel. And, for all the families who do not feel represented? ” To represent other concepts, we can instead use several individual emojis juxtaposed “, she suggests.
Concretely, this is what we see in the image opposite: put one after the other several individual emojis that are already customizable, in order to make the most appropriate mix for the situation of the families.
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