Gotta hand it to you β¦ π«΄β¨
Discover more from Did Someone Say Emoji?
Gotta hand it to you β¦ π«΄β¨
Writing a proposal doesn't require slight of hand. Here are a few tips on what makes for an effective gesture emoji
Ever scratched your head wondering why there isnβt a scratching your head emoji? Are you thinking gesture π€π€π€π€π€ about hand emoji? Well, you have found the right newsletter. The latest and greatest emoji update (Emoji 14.0) includes 37 new emoji and ten of them are hand gestures!!!
π«’ Face with Open Eyes and Hand Over Mouth
π«£ Face with Peeking Eye
π«‘ Saluting Face
π«³ Palm Down Hand
π«΄ Palm Up Hand
π«° Hand with Index Finger and Thumb Crossed
π«΅ Index Pointing at the Viewer
π«Ά Heart Hands
π«± Rightwards Hand
π«² Leftwards Hand
WHY SO MANY HANDS?!?!?!?!
Iβm glad you asked.
Hands and faces emoji have been included since the early days of emoji encoding and are among the most frequently used type of emoji. While frequency isnβt the only way to measure the quality of an emoji β¦ there is a reason why hands are so popular. Hand gestures, eye contact, body language βtalkβ π πΏ just as much as words ππ» We are HARD WIRED to gesticulate π«£. We gesture when talking even if we arenβt face to face π€π½π€π½π€π½π€π½ βΒ like on the telephone or practicing a speech π«΅πΌ. "The act of gesturing is certainly universal, as far as we know. In every group yet studied, the hands at least occasionally stir and take flight as people talk," notes researcher Kensy Cooperrider.
The key phrase here is βthe actβ. Specific gestures ARE NOT universal (pro tip: don't go throwing ππΎ in Brazil unless you wanna get tackled).
So, how many hand shape emoji exist? Well, as of Emoji 14.0 there are nine βface-handβ emoji and forty-three βhand emojiβ:
face-hand π«‘π€π€«π«’π€π₯±π€π«£π±
hand-fingers-open ππ€πβππ«±π«²π«³π«΄
hand-fingers-partial ππ€π€βπ€π«°π€π€ π€
hand-single-finger π ππππβπ«΅
hand-fingers-closed ππβππ€π€
multiple-hands πππ«Άππ€²π€π
hand-prop βπ π€³
arms πͺπ¦Ύ
From a technical perspective itβs worth observing that unlike βPeopleβ π πΌββοΈπ€·πΎββοΈππ» βSmileyβ π₯²π«€π do not take skin tone or gender modifiers. And, unlike βPeopleβ π§π»βπ«π©πΎββοΈπ€΅πΌββοΈ, βHand shapesβ πͺπΌβπΏππΎ take skin tone but not gender modifiers. That means these two types of emoji (π π) have fewer modifications than full βPeopleβ π§π»ππ½ββοΈπ€ΈπΎββοΈ emoji, which have both gender and skin tone modifiers.Β Given the state of most emoji keyboards today, this reduces the cognitive load the average user has to make when choosing an emoji to represent themself.
Youβre in Good Hands π€²
There is loads of guidance on hand emoji thanks to Lauren Gawne, gesture linguist and emoji subcommittee volunteer. Lauren has published a number of documents including tips on what to consider when writing a proposal and filed reports exploring emblem gestures that occur in large populations. (She also has an EXCELLENT podcast Lingthusiasm, of which I am a paid Patreon member. #notanad #SMASHSUBSCRIBE!)
After reading countless proposals and writing a few ourselves, we have some tips on preparing a hand-gesture proposal:
Go BIG before you go βββββ
Itβs really difficult to design a system that is created piecemeal. Thatβs why when writing a proposal my first step is to always take a step back before getting too deep on any one idea. One example of this is a comparison of Unicode faces and JVL morphemes (Japanese Visual Language of manga). This audit of over 60 concepts (conducted thanks to the research of comics theorist Neil Cohn) resulted in the encoding of four emoji: π₯Ή π«₯ π« πΆβπ«οΈ.
π§βπ« Pro Tip: We recommend citing evidence of how your addition completes a set or doesnβt expose the Unicode Technical Committee to more proposals of similar type. Compatibility with existing writing systems continues to be a priority. Kushim Jiangβs document shows the utility of comparing proposed Unicode emoji to characters on other platforms, including QQ and WeChat.Β
Hands or faces with objects
To propose a hand or face emoji with an object (e.g. π βοΈπ€³π€§) you need to demonstrate that the combination is intrinsic and requires the combination of both the face/hand and the object.
π§βπ« Pro Tip: You may find more success proposing a hand emoji that can be used alongside existing object emoji rather than proposing that it be combined with one. See: Hand with palm facing up and Hand with palm facing down (L2/20-213)
Empirical use
Emoji proposals require evidence that your concept is something that is already in common use and not theoretical. Rather than trying to invent something new, provide evidence that the proposed image is a long standing visual morpheme, trope, or emblem. Faces and hands usually have meanings that are not easily pinned down by words but present the strongest search term data you can.
π§βπ« Pro Tip: Donβt forget to supplement your data with additional evidence that demonstrates your emojiβs pervasiveness. Look to ancient scripture, literature, culture, comics, art, etc.
Specificity isnβt always your friendΒ
As is the case with all emoji, creating a case for more nuanced gestures isnβt always effective. Face emoji, rather than full body emoji, are easier to see at emoji sizes, and require no modifiers for skin color and gender, and therefore are more accessible to more people.Β
Canβt decide if your emoji should be a person or an object? A person or a smiley? A hand or a person? π§βπ« Pro Tip: People emoji are tricky to justify encoding due to the technical complexity so if you canβt decide between a βpersonβ emoji or something else β¦ choose something else.
Time to get your hands dirty β
With so many new hand gestures landing in your keyboard, let's take a look at how they got there. βHand gestures are not universal so there's only so many that are really valuable on the emoji keyboard,β Lauren told me over chat. βMy favouites are the ones that are flexible and can have different meanings: the π«° can be a heart made with your fingers, a click, or money money money.β
I love that one too. Here is a small sampling of proposals that range from hands to smileys with hands and all of them are money money money π«°π«°π«°
π« Melting Face (L2/20-072)
The most anticipated emoji of the yearβ’οΈ, the melting face proposal includes images from multimedia to illustrate a wide range of metaphoric uses.
π«° Hand with index finger and thumb (L2/19-327)
One emoji. Many gestures. Note the name isnβt prescriptive of what the hand gesture means and is instead more descriptive. Gestures are flexible depending on who or what youβre talking about (can be a hand snapping π«°, fingers rubbing the worldβs tiniest violin π«°π», or finger heart π«°π).
π«΄ π«³ Hand with palm facing up and Hand with palm facing down (L2/20-213)
A great example of how to demonstrate the flexibility of a new emoji by how it interacts with a wide variety of objects (throw a hot potato π«΄π₯π₯, drop the mic π«³π€). This document also includes two different emoji to argue for completeness of this set.
π«₯ Dotted-Line-Face (L2/20-223)
As discussed in previous newsletters, this proposal illustrates the application of a distorted effect using images from literature.
π«’ Face With Open Eyes and Hand Over Mouth (L2/19-304)
Oy. Who wants to be misunderstood??? This successful submission on the basis of compatibility clearly demonstrates a need for the addition of an emoji similar to an existing emoji (FACE WITH HAND OVER MOUTH π€). Citing examples from pop culture, media, and literature to support the value of disambiguating the change that happens when the eyes are smiling (existing emoji) and eyes open in surprise (this proposal).
π«΅ Index Pointing at the Viewer (L2/20-212)
An iconic hand-shape found in popular iconography and signed languages.Β
π«‘ Saluting-Face (L2/19-396)
What to do when there is no global agreement on how to salute? Compromise. (This proposal also provides a case for a face rather than body with additional gender and skin tone modifiers.)
Holding my Hand to Fire
Despite this whole bloggyletter focusing on hand emoji β¦ the truth is not being able to use ANY emoji when I text is like talking with my hands tied behind my back π€π In a way, all emoji function as gesture even if they arenβt literally hand gestures β β¨π₯πππ― β many of the most popular emoji seem to follow a pattern of communicative non-speech visualizations β dare we call them "Emoji gestures"? Again, Lauren Gawne with fellow linguist, Gretchen McCulloch have written about this extensively. To put it simply: Hand emoji are gesture πͺπͺπͺπͺ. Fire emoji are gesture π₯π₯π₯π₯. ALL THE GREAT EMOJI ARE GESTURE, CAPICHE???? π€π€π€π€π€
Gotta hand it to you β¦ π«΄β¨
I instantly wrote off the βhands with palmsβ π«³π«΄ because thereβs no obvious single use. But youβre totally right that it interacts with others hilariously π«³β
π«΄π