The year 2019 could be more inclusive when it comes to emojis.
The year 2019 could be more inclusive when it comes to emojis. The Unicode Consortium, the organisation that approves emojis, is considering adding 179 new emoticons with its 2019 update. Interestingly, the latest list of emojis will include 55 couples, that takes the gender and race of each partner into account.
Other new emojis that have been added include a service dog, a safety vest and a candidate deaf person.
As per Emoji 12.0, slated for Q1 2019 with Unicode 12.0, the 55 emoji couples will not appear in the emoji options, but will be enabled when a user applies two single-person emojis together. These emojis will then combine, and create a single emoji, where the couples will hold hands, as per Unicode’s blogpost.
Other key emojis will represent persons with disabilities (PwD), such as the ‘deaf person’ icon, that would come alongside mechanical arms and legs. The final evaluation on all the proposed emojis will be taken in September, before they are sent for beta, and an eventual rollout.
Unicode has also proposed eight new candidate emojis, that could be seen in 2020. These include a ninja, military helmet, a mammoth, a feather, a dodo, a magic wand, a carpentry saw and a screwdriver. More recommendations on the same will be added to this list, that could be compiled by March next year, before Unicode evaluates each of them.