Design
The Year of the Soft Smile
A new wave of vendor designs is rounding the edges, warming the palette, and giving the most-used emoji a quiet glow-up.
Lena Park
June 10, 2026 · 6 min read
Recent stories
5 articles
Guides
What it actually takes to add an emoji
Two years, a 12-page document, and a committee of strangers in a hotel ballroom. A look at the path from idea to keyboard.
Marcus Yi · June 4, 2026
Culture
How the world types: keyboard habits in 2026
We looked at anonymized input data from four regions. The differences in how people reach for emoji are bigger than you might expect.
Priya Anand · May 28, 2026
Design
Designing the heart, again
It looks simple. It is anything but. We talk to the team behind one of this year's most-discussed icon refreshes.
Sasha Reine · May 19, 2026
News
The case for a smarter emoji keyboard
Scrolling through 3,000-plus characters to find a face is a design failure. Here's what the next generation of keyboards is trying.
Devon Maurer · May 11, 2026
News
The quiet rise of the symbol category
Faces get the headlines, but the category quietly outperforming everything else is the one nobody talks about.
Lena Park · May 2, 2026