Updated July 18, 2017 13:43:11 <\/p>\n
Apple has marked World Emoji Day by dropping the list of new characters it will include in its iOS 11 update later this year. <\/p>\n
But a certain 2 per cent of the population aren't celebrating. <\/p>\n
Why? Because while we'll get zombies, dinosaurs, people doing yoga, a woman wearing a headscarf, a man with a beard, a breastfeeding mother and a \"mind blown\" expression (and much more) on our phones this spring, there are still no official plans for red-haired emojis. <\/p>\n
Redheads have been calling for their own characters since 2015, when Apple expanded its keyboard to include a larger variety of races and genders. <\/p>\n
So why is it taking so long? It's just a matter of giving some emojis a makeover right? <\/p>\n
Well, no. It turns out the process is much more complex than you might think. <\/p>\n
Let's take a look: <\/p>\n
There is no one organisation responsible for \"making\" emojis. <\/p>\n
Instead, members of the public pitch ideas for new characters to the Unicode Consortium (UC), a panel made up mostly of representatives from some of the world's biggest tech companies, including: Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Facebook, Google, Huawei, and Netflix. <\/p>\n
If approved, tech companies are then responsible for designing their own characters. <\/p>\n
If you had a good idea for a emoji, first you would have to write a proposal. <\/p>\n
The UC provides a step-by-step guide for how to do that, but it's basically a letter in which you have to include: <\/p>\n
Once that's done, you would then need to submit it to the UC, where it is referred to the Emoji Subcommittee. <\/p>\n
The subcommittee is co-chaired by Mark Davis from Google and Peter Edberg from Apple. <\/p>\n
If your pitch ticks all the boxes, it's then referred back to the UC and put to a vote. <\/p>\n
Once approved, it then needs to be developed by each tech company. <\/p>\n
Ever wondered why Apple emojis look different to Google emojis? <\/p>\n
Because during development, each company is able to get creative and design their own unique version of the character. <\/p>\n
And then it's up to each company when they want to roll them out. <\/p>\n
According to Unicode, it takes about a year from start to finish, and that's why redhead emojis are yet to grace our screens. <\/p>\n
Despite over two years of calls for the characters, they were only officially pitched to Unicode in April. <\/p>\n
That means sorry friends, you'll be waiting until at least early 2018. <\/p>\n
Topics: human-interest, arts-and-entertainment, popular-culture <\/p>\n
First posted July 18, 2017 13:26:55 <\/p>\n
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The rest is here:<\/p>\n
Why are there still no redhead emojis? Because they take longer to make than you might think - ABC Online<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Updated July 18, 2017 13:43:11 Apple has marked World Emoji Day by dropping the list of new characters it will include in its iOS 11 update later this year. Continue reading