Emojis: set rules how to use them in your product 🍿😸👀

Marie, Designer with a demonstrated history of working in the startup industry, I give you in this article my thoughts on how to properly use emojis in your product to ensure consistency.

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Summary

— History on emojis
— Emojis in Product design
— Emojis usage
— Emojis & Colors

Photo by Vladislav Klapin on Unsplash

A bit of history on emojis

The smiley was invented in 1963 by Harvey Ball, emoticons became common in the middle of computer scientists during the 1980s. The first emojis were created in 1997 for SoftBank. In 2003, Msn Messenger introduces 30 emoticons, including animated ones. Emojis also started appearing in email services like Gmail in April 2009, or Microsoft Outlook from 2017 and social networks like Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr.

The word emoji literally means “image” (e) + “letter” (moji). The resemblance to “emotion” is a cross-cultural pun.

Emojis in product design

Why do we use emojis?

It’s a simple and universal way to convey an emotion :

• MIT Scientists discovered that people can process images in as little as 13 milliseconds, making emojis a useful tool for communicating emotional information at just a glance (source).
• 70% of people believe the images express their feelings better than words (source).
• A study found that using an emoji in casual conversation introduces feelings of enjoyment, happiness, and solidifies an overall positive impression of the interaction (source).

It’s a language of communication understandable by all, which breaks down barriers

• 78% of people say that using emojis makes you more likeable (source).
• It’s a visual aid to say something very quickly, without frills
• Emojis have integrated skin colors since 2014.
• 92% of the online population use emojis (source)
• 78% of emoji users agree emojis should continue to strive for inclusivity…