emojiPOPSCI.COM.AU 65
HUNT:It was going to be easier if the hair colours were
treated as Zero Width Joiner (ZWJ) sequences—the
seequence that involves several emoji glued together.
DAVVIS:Existing and older systems know how to handle ZWZWJ
sequuences without code changes.
UNICOODE TECHNICAL REPORT #51:The U+200D ZZero
Widthh Joiner can be used between the elements of aa
sequence of charaf haracters to indicate that a single glypph should
be presented if available.ble.
LEE:If you don’t have the underlylying emoji to gluue together,
then you still need to create the atommic-level onees—say, the
happy woman on her own. One concernrn was, what does it
look like when one piece of the puzzle is mmissing?
UTR #51:When an emoji ZWJ sequence is seent tooasystem
that does not have a corresponding single glypph, tthe ZWJ
characters are ignored, and a fallback sequenceeoff separate
emoji is displayed.
EVERSON:At one point, they suggested combiniing thhe
person with a separate red-hair glyph. Basically, tthey wwere
suggesting encoding scalps, which I thought wasofen-
sive. We got that changed to a dotted face with thhe hair onn
top a way of showing that it’s a control characterifthe
CHAPTER FIVE
Bagels, lobsters, super-
villains, and redheads
Unicode announced on February 7, 2018, it would add 15 7
new emoji, including superheroes, the ininity sign, and red,
white, curly, and bald hairstyles. As Kelly awaits Apple’sdigital
gingers, Unicode members anddesigners ready their keyboard
updates and ponder the future of emoji.HUNT: The process isn’t completely inished at that point.
Once theUnicode standardbecomes oicial,then Apple
and Google and the other vendors will take that information
and do their own renditions.DANIEL:We consider a range of questions when designing an
emoji. Is it abstract enough for you to relate to? Or is it overly
speciic? If it’s a person, did we get the expression right? Some
emoji are reallydiicult and require lots of back and forth.HUNT:Once thevendors update theiroperatingsystems
with the new characters, people can start using them on
their smartphones.DANIEL:Some you just kindkind of nail. The redhead is fairly
straightforward fromrom a design standpoint: You just change
the hair colourur to red or orange.ltrelieved, mostly becauseit hadbeen going on
and I was very happy that all the work we’ddone
paidof. It was long and confusing, but hey, we
n the end.ON:I want people to sympathise alittlewith
This is a standards body of software develop-
due to aluke incorporatehistory,itendedupin
f this extremely salient cultural touchpoint and
expression.:It’s a lot of work, but it’s still fun. That’spart of
eason why people love emoji. They’re fun, and
ll be interesting to seehow this does evolve and
wit changes the way we think and
alk and communicate.EVERSON:Idon’t think 70 years from now
people will be sending each other pictures of
eggplants to discuss certain matters. I don’t
think 70 years from now people will be sending
each other colourfulemojiat all.DANIEL:Really, I’m interested ininding
away to mix and match these emoji to
create something new. In the same way
guage and slang evolve, I hope there’s a way
ji to evolve.