The Rapid Transformation Of Google Emojis Over The Years

Let’s face it, an emoji-less world is something that we cannot fathom. These tiny, innocuous symbols that have the ability to convey an array of emotions, messages and images are what we depend on when we unlock our smart-phones. From wanting to send a birthday wish to letting the other person know that you are running late, there is a way to do it in ease without the use of as many words. Emojis or emoticons are crucial on every operating systems for better and often more effective communications. And Google has seen to it that emojis are equipped to hold some of the most intense conversations across platforms.

The emojis came into being post 2010 and became fully functional from the year 2012. Earlier, the symbols that were used to convey even the most basic of emotions through an undefined blob silhouette, were often subjected to miscommunication. It was undoubtedly the most innovative method to replace or accompany text messages and was widely accepted all over the world. Before the onset of emojis, a smile used to be manually constructed through the use of colons and semi-colons, carefully placed brackets and suddenly our efforts got reduced with the induction of emojis. Smiles, happiness, uncontrollable laughter, grumpiness and much more were now depicted through these symbols that enriched conversations over smart-phones.

The trend continued well into the consecutive years and were modified with every new update of the Operating System. The undefined silhouettes that were developed by designers were now more defined and the blobs too were no longer shapeless. In the years 2013- 2014, the emojis were primarily yellow in colour along with the introduction of more human like figures and symbols depicting everything from food, flowers, automobiles to country flags. Yes, the need of which is still debatable.

Come 2015 and the blob turned gumdrops had soon made the transition to symmetrical circles and the inception of a host of new emojis that gained quite a popularity. However, the problem persisted where emojis were not uniformly depicted over platforms. For instance the symbol of a dancing girl when sent through an Android phone did not look the same when it was received on iOS. And this needed to change.

2016 had little to offer in this regard. But the emojis took on a drastically different turn. Genders and skin tones were introduced into the existing human-like symbols and were even more defined than before. A whistling emoji was no longer misread as a sneezing one. More and more everyday objects and acronyms have been incorporated and the world indeed is thankful for these.

The present year (2017) however made a breakthrough into the problem of miscommunication across platforms. Google’s initiative to make emojis universal has borne fruit by making them accepted irrespective of the operating systems. Rachel Been says, “We spent a long, long time making sure that we addressed cross-platform emotional consistency. Because one of our main goals with the redesign was to avoid confusion or miscommunication across platforms, we wanted to assure the user that when they sent an emoji to a friend, the message was clearly communicated regardless of whether they are on iOS, Windows, Samsung, or any other platform.”

The recent developments also ensure that these new changes in the way emojis looked and are communicated over a variety of devices can be enjoyed without a mandatory update. Phones and tablets don’t always receive prompt update notifications. This can be easily countered through this feature and emojis can be implemented without an interruption.

Infographic designs, brochure designs, development of logos are extremely important to take the company forward that also help with its branding and marketing. These however, must be carefully evaluated and must go through a plethora of changes that remain in tandem with the changing times to remain relevant. Take a leaf out of Google’s constant strife to update the world of emojis and see what you can do differently.

Though the changes in the way emojis are perceived and developed have gone through quite an upheaval and look like they are going to stay, be assured, they won’t. The recent years might witness a completely different direction for emojis that heeds the need of the times but that too would then seem, extremely welcome.