A 10-year-old boy is campaigning for his revised design.
(Image credit: Apple / Future)
Emojis can provoke a lot of debate. We've seen plenty of campaigns over the years for new emojis to be added, and we've also seen controversy over certain emojis taking on meanings that weren't exactly what they were originally intended for.
While the Unicode Consortium has aimed to make emojis more inclusive, but the exact designs are the work of individual social media and tech brands, such as Apple, Android and Facebook. A 10-year-old boy now aims to convince Apple to change one of its most questionable designs (no, we're not talking about Magic Mouse).
Some brands have redesigned their 'nerd face' emojis, but Apple and X still use buck teeth (Image credit: Apple / Google / Facebook / Twitter)
The 'Nerd Face' emoji was approved as part of Unicode 8.0 and added to Emoji 1.0 in 2015. It traditionally showed a face with thick-rimmed glasses and buck teeth, but Google, Facebook, WhatsApp and JoyPixels have all changed or removed the teeth from their versions of the emoji. Apple, Twitter, Microsoft, Samsung and some others have not.
Ten-year-old Teddy from Oxfordshire thinks that should change. He says Apple's design is "offensive and insulting" towards people who wear glasses. A specs-wearer himself, he has redesigned the emoji, making the frame of the glasses thinner and replacing the teeth with a smile. He has proposed that the emoji be renamed the genius emoji, and he's started a petition to call for Apple to take on his proposal.
He told the BBC: "Apple are making it absolutely horrible for people wearing glasses. "They're making people think we're nerds."
He said: "It's making me feel sad and upset, and if I find it offensive there'll be thousands of people around the world that find it offensive too." He added that he likes wearing glasses because they make him see better, and they look stylish.
The BBC reports that Teddy had shared his feelings on the matter with one of his teachers, who helped him start the petition. Limited emoji options could actually become a thing of the past thanks to new AI apps like Newji and Google emoji kitchen, which allow users to create practically any emoji they want using text prompts (TikTok has some ideas for the emojis we need)
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Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.
