Reuters reported recently that in order to break down stereotypes about beauty and make the digital world more inclusive, a group of young students and professionals from London have designed the first emoji with black and mixed-race hair.
According to the report, the design aims to address“The discrimination that African hairstyles are often perceived as ‘unattractive’ or ‘unclean’”. They argue that there are nearly 4,000 emojis that represent human emotions or objects, but none of them feature black or mixed-race hairstyles, and that this should be reversed. As a result, young people sketched and professionals designed the finished product, and finally launched four emoji, which have“Afro”, “Braid”, “Corn ridge”, “Dreadlock” four hairstyles (pictured) . The emojis will be submitted to the emoji-related organizations for consideration in April 2025.
The report said a survey of 104 members of the youth organization showed that 61 percent had been discriminated against or bullied because of their hair. For this, one 17-year-old who worked on the project said: “[ these emoji ] will break the social norm that hair must be straight in order to be seen as popular.” One member of the design team said: “It is hoped that as the diversity and inclusiveness of the technology team grows, we will see more emoji that truly represent the diversity of the world we live in.”