Did you know? You can draw your own “official” emoji

The Unicode Consortium is open until July 31, 2022 for new emoji proposals. If you have ideas, feel free.

Have you ever caught yourself writing a message, scrolling through endless lists of emojis only to realize that the emoji you are currently looking for doesn’t exist? If yes, or you just think you have a great emoji idea, here’s your chance. The Unicode Consortium, the non-profit organization responsible for indexing emoji, is open to suggestions from the general public.

So here’s how to present your own design or idea and what this entry means.

How to prepare a file

There are a lot of emojis out there these days, even if they don’t automatically appear on your phone. Before you start building your own, you have a little homework to do.

First, make sure your emoji idea hasn’t been accepted yet. If not, check that no one has proposed this idea and that it is under consideration. This page is especially handy when you want to submit a project because it also shows you which projects have been approved and rejected, giving you an idea of ​​what the organization may or may not be looking for. Also take a look at the auto reject criteria as well as the review criteria.

Also take the time to review the committee’s priorities, guidelines, strategies, reports, and audits. Finally, ask yourself if your emoji is likely to be used frequently and why.

In the video below, in English, Unicode Consortium Subcommittee Chair Jennifer Daniel answers a series of questions.

How to submit your idea for a new emoji

The Unicode Consortium provides very detailed instructions, including completing and submitting the application. Make sure you don’t forget the information on the form. Incomplete files will not be processed and returned to the sender.

The deadline for applications is 31 July 2022.