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This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2013) |
Category | |
---|---|
Designer(s) | Various[1] |
Commissioned by | Apple Inc. |
Also known as | Emoji |
Apple Color Emoji (stylized as AppleColorEmoji) is a color typeface used on Apple platforms such as iOS and macOS to display Emoji characters.[2][3]
The inclusion of emoji in the iPhone and in the Unicode standard has been credited with promoting the spreading use of emoji outside Japan.[4][5][6] As with many Apple icons past and present, they feature a design based on deep, saturated colors and gradual transitions of color, often incorporating subtle gloss effects.[7][8]
Original release
The first version of Apple Color Emoji was released alongside iPhone OS 2.2 in November 2008 and contained 471 individual emoji glyphs.[9] Originally limited to Japanese iPhone models, this restriction was later lifted.[10]
The designers of the first Apple Color Emoji typeface were Raymond Sepulveda, Angela Guzman and Ollie Wagner.[11]
Due to the iPhone originally launching in Japan on the SoftBank network, some Apple emoji designs may have been created to resemble those on SoftBank phones.[12] For example, 💃 (defined by Unicode as 'dancer' with no specified gender) is feminine on Apple and SoftBank phones[13] but was previously masculine or gender-neutral on others.[14][15]
Expansion
In the years 2011–2018 the Apple Color Emoji font expanded from 471 to 3,633 emoji[16] as of September 2021.[17]
An updated emoji keyboard was released in iOS version 8.3, this update also added varied skin tones and same-gender couples included in Unicode 6.[18] As a result, the human emoji faces switched to a neutral yellow skin tone by default, similar to the smiley emoji.[19][20]
The majority of Apple Color Emoji designs were updated with the release of iOS 10.2 in December 2016, with many appearing to be 3D-rendered.[21] According to Apple Vice President of User Interface Design Alan Dye, emoji redesigns were due to the advent of Animoji, Memoji, and higher resolution screens.[22]
157 new emoji were added to iOS in October 2018.[23]
The designers of the Apple Color Emoji typeface in versions after the initial release have not been publicly credited, following Apple's standard practice of not crediting work to individuals.[citation needed] Former Apple employees have offered accounts of who created various designs.[24][25][26]
Implementation
Prior to iOS 5 SoftBank encoding was used for encoding emoji on Apple devices. Beginning with iOS 5, emoji are encoded using the Unicode standard.[27][28] Emoji glyphs are stored as PNG images,[29] at several resolutions (strikes of 20, 32, 40, 48, 64, 96 and 160 pixels squared) using a proprietary "sbix" table that was later standardized in OpenType version 1.8.[29][30][31]
Parts of this article (those related to 2016 (iOS 10) revision) need to be updated.(June 2017) |
The font contains a number of Easter eggs. Several glyphs contain portions of the text of Apple's Think different advertisement ("Here's to the crazy ones..."), including 1F4CB "Clipboard" (📋), 1F4C4 "Page facing up" (📄), 1F4D1 "Bookmark Tabs" (📑), and 1F4D6 "Open book" (📖), among others. Other emoji, specified as generic objects, appear as Apple products. For example, 1F4BB "Personal computer" (💻) appears as a modern MacBook,[32] while 231A "Wristwatch" (⌚) shows an Apple Watch. 1F301 "Foggy" (🌁) shows the Golden Gate Bridge behind San Francisco fog, a reference to Apple's California headquarters, and 1F4F0 "Newspaper" (📰)'s headline reads "The Apple Times".[33]
A variety of styles are used in the original sets. For example, 🐬 and 🐙 (dolphin and octopus) were quite stylized with 'button' eyes, while 🐈 and 🐀 (cat and rat) were more realistic, resembling watercolor paintings. This mixture of styles creates a range of possible designs: for example, 🐏 and 🐑 (ram and sheep) look clearly different, as do 🐫 and 🐪 (Bactrian camel and dromedary).
Trends
Because of the calendar emoji (📅) showing July 17, this date was chosen for the annual World Emoji Day.[34] The date originally referred to the day Apple premiered its calendar application, iCal, in 2002.[35][36]
Although primarily intended for onscreen display (iOS having limited printing capabilities), some printed displays and signs have used Apple Color Emoji designs.[37] New York magazine used Apple Color Emoji in a printed feature on the growing use of emoji.[38]
Emoji