The Unicode consortium, a nonprofit organization staffed mostly by volunteers online, is the creator of the Unicode standard, the text encoding standard that most phones run their text on. Unicode also includes emoji, which the Unicode consortium creates and curates each release based on user requests, submissions and votes. Unicode 9.0, set to be released for carrier and public use on June 21, will bring at least 72 new emoji. Emojipedia, a searchable site that catalogs all released emoji, has created mockups of what they believe the 72 named new emoji will look like.
The mockup shows off distinct emoji in a rather unique style, a departure of sorts from most types of emoji out there. The full list is shown off in a video produced by Emojipedia. The new crop, rather than focusing on the hot topic of diverse emoji, goes for new objects and actions. The long-overdue rolling on the floor laughing emoji is on board, as well as the almost as overdue facepalm, a lying face, a man in a tuxedo and even an emoji alternative to the ever-popular shrug emote. Left and right facing fists allow friends to share a brofist, and a black heart is on board for those who have gotten tired of explaining that they’re not terribly nice and would rather resort to an emoji. A long list of objects and animals is included as well, such as a deer, a shark, a shrimp, a cucumber and a pair of clinking glasses. Many will be relieved to know that, at long last, a selfie emoji has made it into Unicode.
While the new release is set for June 21, this is only the date that the new standard and its new emoji will become available; that does not necessarily mean that you will be able to use them or see them come to your phone on that date. Users who tend toward non-unicode emoji, like Google’s set or Apple’s set, could see emoji based on these new ones before the new ones get ported into competing keyboards and ecosystems. The new set of emoji could well go beyond 72, but those are the only ones that are currently known for certain.