Depending on who you talk to, 2016 was a bit of a rough year. But, there was one silver lining: visual communication – spurred by the growth of mobile usage – continued to flourish. And, there’s no better form of visual communication than the emoji. After all, the Oxford Dictionary’s 2015 word of the year WAS an emoji. While the emoji is nothing new to the Internet, 2016 marked a great evolution in the visual sets produced by Unicode, the company that is responsible for developing and licensing them. So, you’re probably wondering why we’re talking emojis when there are many other societal concerns worth sharing: climate change, civil rights, war, politics and equality. Well, if you look closely you’ll find that the evolution of these visual icons in 2016 speaks to the cultural zeitgeist of our time. So, without further adieu, here are top emoji trends from 2016: 1.Playing with our food This year, Unicode made great strides in developing emojis to reflect the world’s varied tastes in cuisine. In particular, the taco, bacon and hot dog made their debuts this year for the junk food lovers out there. But, our collective hearts truly rejoiced when iOS’s latest update FINALLY introduced a selection of healthy produce, including carrots, a potato, and even a salad. The latest release also heralded the launch of the avocado – likely in honour of the avocado and toast phenomenon. There’s now even a farmer in the professionals category. It appears our obsession with good food – and now healthy foods – continues to blossom. 2.Bridging the Gender Gap In the original Unicode set, many of the “people” emojis were predominantly male – most notably the athletes and professionals. Women were merely represented in stereotypical roles like bride, dancer, or information desk girl 💁. However, with dialogue around female empowerment and equality having picked up steam due to high profile proponents such as Hillary Clinton, Malala Yousafzai, and Sheryl Sandberg, the public now demands that women are reflected more equally in all forms of media – including emojis. The feminine hygiene brand, Always, even ran a campaign to demand more girls in the emoji suite through their #LikeAGirl campaign. And just like that, we now wonderful selection of female emojis to choose from – including a scientist, a doctor, a police woman, wrestlers, a surfer, a runner and much more! What’s even more amazing, is that this diversity goes both ways, with new options for males to express their feminine side as well. 3.Self Expression From face palms to selfies to mike drops, 2016 was ripe with colloquialism and gestures that have now become common ground amongst millennials and boomers alike. As emojis continue to grow in importance, the diverse offerings continue to expand too. This year, the launch of the “facepalm” emoji generated the most buzz of the year. While, we are not always the most grammatically correct, by God we are honest and expressive. All that said, one word we could probably do without is “selfie”. 4.Finding Our Inner Unicorn Despite all of the doom and gloom in the news towards the latter half of this year, imagination and mystery are not dead – and 2016’s varied emojis reflect that. In fact, the integration of mythical creatures like dragons and unicorns (as well as a new selection of lesser known, but majestic animals like the red panda and owl) proves that now more than ever, the public wants to believe in and fantasize about something bigger than themselves – something outside the confines of our daily news cycle. And there’s nothing like a male and female David Bowie to remind us that we can be heroes – just for one day. Needless to say, the hidden meanings of our 2016 emoji releases hold the key to a much more positive narrative – a hopeful one that offers great promise and optimism for the year ahead. From our team to yours, we wish you an amazing New Year.
Capturing photos of our dinner has been a thing since smartphones hit the scene back in the early 2000’s. Emojis simply complement the content by adding some colour commentary. But, sadly, the emoji selection has long been a sparse variety of sugary treats, a few veggies and couple sushi rolls.
