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The most important Emoji arrives: the otter. And 64 others too.

18.7.2019

Translation: machine translated

The Unicode Consortium has introduced the new Emojis for 2019. Among them are an otter and same-sex couples of all skin colours.

Emojis are important. So important, in fact, that a film has been dedicated to them.

The film is such an important historical document that on the review platform Rotten Tomatoes it received the approval of 7% of critics and 38% of viewers. The consequence seems logical: more Emojis.

Among them, the most important Emoji since the invention of little heads, which started out as smiley faces. The stuff Outlook still shows as "J" after all these years, because the smiley accidentally got the letter J in the Police Wingdings. The most important Emoji of all time is the otter.

It's been proven that almost anything can be improved by the addition of an otter. SMS included. Reality TV too, for that matter.

The other Emojis

Emojis are approved by the Unicode Consortium after being suggested by Users. In the latest update to the officially ratified Emojis - Emoji 12.0 - the otter isn't the only design to have been added to the increasingly difficult-to-interpret assortment of expressions.

One of the aims of Emojis is the inclusion of all genders and skin colours. Whereas Emojis were once just yellow faces, they have become more detailed thanks to screens that are gaining in resolution. Of course, the question arises: can't a hairdresser's Emoji also be a hairdresser? Behind this detail lies not only a question of equality, but also a question of the values we want to inculcate. Emojis are used every day, every second. There's no denying that they have an influence on the way people think. If someone who cuts their hair is always a woman, then what stereotype is being propagated? These are the main questions the Unicode Consortium asks itself when updating Emoji: gender, skin colour, disability, etc.
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That's why in Emoji 12.0, a total of 65 new Emojis are added to the Smiley Faces arsenal. These include, among others, a gay couple with skin colours ranging from dark to light, a blind woman and of course also a lesbian couple and a blind man. Then a red square, a pink flamingo, a sloth, hearing aids, a banjo, an oyster and a robot arm.

Full resolution image.

Waiting for update

Emoji 12.0 is not yet rolled out to all devices. According to encyclopaedia Emojipedia Twitter has already implemented the set. Emojipedia reckons Google will follow suit in August. Android news site Android Authority meanwhile talks of implementation in Android Q, the next version of Android. Apple is said to be launching Otter and co in December, with Facebook to follow in November, WhatsApp in December and Samsung in January 2020.

Meanwhile, the Unicode Consortium is already working on Emoji 13.0, which will probably be rolled out by mid-2020. This version could contain: a military helmet, an olive, a worm, a pick-up truck or the transgender symbol.

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Dominik Bärlocher

Senior Editor

dominik.baerlocher@digitecgalaxus.ch

Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.

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The most important Emoji arrives: the otter. And 64 others too.

The other Emojis

Waiting for update

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