New Emoji Set, Set To Arrive In 2017

New 2017 emoji collection to include Dracula, a breast-feeding icon, and a giraffe…

A whole new generation of socially liberal and progressive emojis will be added to a digital device near you from March 2017.

Unlike how many media commentators and pollsters failed to foresee a Trump victory in last week’s US Presidential elections, the Unicode consortium have chosen new emoji icons that symbolise forward thinking and acceptance of others as a theme.

The new designs were officially  approved to be added to the  emoji line-up late last week.

The Unicode Consortium approved 51 new emoji in total as part of the Unicode 10 release. The new emoji are based on requests from third-parties to the consortium over the past year and include emoji representing breastfeeding and a hijab emoji, a gender-neutral icon, and many more.

Unicode is the governing body which oversees the roll-out of new symbols to mobile platforms, and as the line between traditional and mobile computing shrinks, emojis are being used more and more in PC and laptop communications as well. The organisation reviews requests from users and third parties before revealing a shortlist of new emoji to be included in its next release.

Other highlights of the new emoji release for 2017 include a stick of broccoli, a face vomiting, and an exploding head.  A flying saucer and a T-rex also made the cut, as did a pair of socks.

While Unicode approve, and release new emojis, it is up to technology companies whether to include them or not in their software, and also how they will appear. Apple for example, chose to replace the hand gun emoji in its devices with a water pistol, whereas Google left the original gun drawing in place.