Emoji Design Convergence Review: 2018-2026

Summary

Just under eight years ago, we here at Emojipedia hypothesized that 2018 would be a year of emoji design convergence, with various major emoji vendors' designs being revised to be much closer in composition to one another. Today, we look back at the major emoji updates made since early 2018, covering both moves toward design convergence as well as some recent instances of purposeful design divergence. Fragmentation, Convergence, and SamsungWe opened our 2018 article with the following summary of the state of emoji designs across platforms between 2012 and 2017:For years, different emoji sets have been causing problems in communicating a simple emotion. Send a grimace on iOS? Get a grin everywhere else. Send a grin from a Galaxy? Get an eye-roll everywhere else. This could be changing in 2018.Described as "emoji fragmentation" by some, it was clear that various emoji vendors' designs were highly inconsistent with one another, often leading to embarrassing miscommunications. Take, for example, what occurred for actor Jessica Chastain in early 2018 when she sent a tweet from a Samsung device that contained the 🤤 Drooling Face emoji: Given its blue gradient, it's clear Chastrain confused Samsung's 🤤 Drooling Face design at the time for the likes of the 😨 Fearful Face.Amusingly enough, this design for 🤤 Drooling Face would be revised in a Samsung update less than two weeks later: an update which also aimed to address many instances of design fragmentation within that notably divergent design set.Perhaps the most notable change in this update was not the 🤤 Drooling Face, but that of the 🙄 Face with Rolling Eyes emoji.This update was only the start for Samsung's journey towards greater design convergence. Since the beginning of 2018, at least seven of the vendor's thirteen updates included a significant number of design changes clearly made in the name of improved convergence with those of other vendors. You can explore each of these updates via the list below:Samsung Expe...