Happy World Emoji Day! ! ! 

🙂 😂 🤔 😀 😂 😍 🥳 😢 🤔 🙂 🙁 😉 😛 😂 🙂 😂 😭 😡 😍

A Brief History:
Origination: Prior to the advent of emojis, emoticons were prevalent. Emoticons, a combination of the words emotion and icon, were created to convey feelings in text that otherwise lacked emotional expression. The term emoji, originating from Japan, translates to “picture word” and was invented by Shigetaka Kurita in 1990. While employed at the Japanese telecommunications company NTT Docomo, Kurita designed these pictorial representations as a feature for their pagers, aiming to enhance their appeal to a younger audience. In 2007, Apple launched the first iPhone, which included an integrated emoji keyboard to attract the Japanese market. Although it was not initially designed for users in the United States, they discovered it and quickly learned how to utilize it.

Emoji Art & Design Show at Eyebeam courtesy of Openverse

Why Emojis? There are numerous symbolic icons representing digital us on apps, the web and more worldwide. This day prompts us to utilize emojis for conveying distinctive messages and moods. The emojis are not just smileys anymore. But there is room for more! I noticed in particular one missing emoji: The pumpkin. If you want to symbolize for instance pumpkin pie, a Jack-o-lantern is just not right. Tell that the The Unicode Consortium! Mostly, though they are on queue.

Smiley Face courtesy of Openverse

How Unicode Uses the “Emoji Counts Key”: 
In the tables detailing emoji counts, the columns represent counts based on the primary categories outlined in the Emoji Ordering Chart: Smileys & People, Animals & Nature, Food & Drink, among others. The rows indicate counts derived from the internal structure or intended use of the emoji, as detailed below. Terms may be combined if an emoji fits into multiple categories.

Term Description:

• Ⓒ An emoji represented by single characters (or single characters plus the Emoji Presentation Selector, when applicable).
  
• Ⓩ An emoji sequence that employs a special ZWJ character to “bind” multiple emoji characters into a single emoji.
  
• 🏿 An emoji sequence that includes a skin-tone modifier.
  
• 🦰 An emoji sequence that features a hair component, allowing for the selection of a specific hair color or style.
  
• ♀ An emoji sequence that utilizes male or female signs to denote a particular gender appearance.
  
• 👩‍🎓 An emoji sequence that signifies a profession or role, composed of a MAN, WOMAN, or ADULT along with an object representing that role.
  
• 👪 An emoji sequence that depicts a group of individuals, such as a family emoji, as well as a couple kissing or a couple with a heart.
  
• #️⃣ An emoji keycap sequence, which includes phone keys 0, 1, 2 … #, *.
  
• 🏁 An emoji flag sequence, made up of a pair of regional indicators.
  
• 🏴 An emoji tag sequence, currently representing a subdivision flag.
  
• 🧑 An emoji character or sequence intended to appear ungendered or gender-neutral, though it may be illustrated with a specific gender appearance.
  
• 🔗 An isolated component, such as a skin tone modifier or hair component, that is not typically displayed on emoji keyboards. This count excludes other components that should never appear on emoji keyboards, like isolated flag components.

Subtotal This represents the total excluding typical duplicates or components, providing a more accurate reflection of what users would generally encounter on emoji keyboards or palettes. Keyboards may also utilize features like “long press” to manage related emojis, further minimizing the number of visible cells.