Your Emoji Idea Could End Up on Every Phone on Earth
Every time you tap that little taco, send a flaming heart, or drop a beaver into the group chat, you're using an emoji that somebody — somewhere — had to fight for. And now, that somebody could be you.
The Unicode Consortium, the international body that decides which emojis make it onto your keyboard, is opening the floor to public proposals. And graphic designer Jennifer Daniel, who serves on the committee that reviews submissions, wants Canadians to know the bar is both higher and more interesting than you'd think.
What Makes a Great Emoji?
According to Daniel, a good emoji isn't just cute — it has to be useful in as many contexts as possible. She compares the ideal emoji to a Swiss army knife: compact, versatile, and instantly recognizable even at 16 pixels.
"You want something that can do a lot of work," Daniel explained in a recent interview with CBC's The Current. "An emoji that only means one very specific thing is hard to get approved because it just doesn't get used enough."
That's why broad, evocative symbols — think: a handshake, a leaf, a lightning bolt — tend to outlast niche proposals. The committee looks for emojis that will resonate across cultures, languages, and age groups. A symbol that reads clearly in Toronto has to read just as clearly in Tokyo.
How the Process Actually Works
Anyone can submit a proposal to Unicode. The process involves filling out a detailed form that explains the emoji's meaning, expected use cases, how frequently people are already using similar symbols in text, and how it would look rendered across different platforms like Apple, Google, and Samsung.
From there, the Emoji Subcommittee — which includes Daniel and representatives from major tech companies — reviews submissions. The full Unicode Consortium votes on final approvals. The whole cycle, from submission to your phone, can take one to two years.
Unicode releases a new emoji set roughly once a year. Recent additions have included things like a phoenix, a lime, and a pair of fingerprints — all proposals that made the cut because they filled a genuine gap in how people communicate digitally.
Why It Matters More Than You Think
Emoji have quietly become one of the most universal visual languages on the planet. Researchers have studied their role in mental health communication, cross-cultural diplomacy, and even legal disputes (courts have had to rule on what a winking face means in a contract). Getting the vocabulary right matters.
Daniel has been an advocate for making emoji more inclusive and representative — pushing for better skin tone options, gender-neutral designs, and symbols that reflect the full range of human experience rather than a narrow cultural slice.
For Canadians interested in submitting, the Unicode website has full guidelines and past approved proposals to reference. The advice from insiders: keep it simple, think globally, and make sure your emoji idea earns its place in the drawer.
Source: CBC Radio, The Current
