The emojis you don’t have
Emotional expression in digital messaging has come a long way. Now you can use different emoji types to communicate our emotions and reactions. We use Static emoji, the set of emoji that live in our social messaging apps and IM; we use Animated emoji, such as GIFs; and finally, Filters or real time emoji that cover your face and follow your movements. Snapchat or Google hangouts use them. However, I believe that communication has many unexplored avenues, places where emoji could play a part but don’t yet.
This project is an exploration of the in betweens of this 3 emoji categories: The Static emoji, the Animated emoji and the Real time emoji.
What I find interesting about this experiment, is to find ways of innovating where people don’t normally pay attention to. I’m a firm believer that innovation happens in the “in betweens”, and when people contemplate a combination of things that were previously disconnected.
I came up with 3 different emoji concepts.
1- Combination: Merging the expression of two or more emojis into one static emoji. The purpose of this emoji is expressing accurately the emotion you are feeling.
2- Sequence: The sequence allows users to portrait a reaction to a specific event. Users can display the reaction from two different existing emojis. For instance from surprised to happy.
3- Voice controlled: Using the front facing camera the users will record a voice message and add an emoji that embodies the tone they want to express. When the receiving users play the recording, the emoji will replicate the expressions of the users sending it. This will allow users to give emphasis on the emotional tone of the recording.
