New emojis to represent couples of colour

New emojis are set to be introduced to represent couples of colour.

The Unicode Consortium recently approved the additions in characters, technically referred to as people “holding hands”, after a year-long push by dating app Tinder and tech activist group Emojination.

Until now, emojis of two or more people on various devices and platforms were limited to only people in the colour yellow.

While the Unicode Consortium, where Google, Microsoft and Apple have voting seats, signed off on the skin-tone additions, user companies will decide for themselves starting later this year whether to add them and how they will look.

Jennifer Lee, who is emoji committee vice-chair, said Unicode is taking user demand for more skin tones across emojis “very seriously”.

“The addition of skin tones, gender variations, hijab and hair styles are part of users around the world demanding to see themselves represented on the emoji keyboard,” Ms Lee said.

“Diverse couples and families are part of that.”

While facial features and hair textures are yet to be determined by some vendors, Tinder said the use of six existing skin tones already available for one-person emoji and various others is a step in the right direction at a time when the text- and chat-friendly characters remain a readily accessible way for the world to express itself. The lack of colour options in couples, the company said, felt like a slight.

Tinder’s chief marketing officer Jenny Campbell added the app’s users “are craving for a way to express themselves visually and see themselves reflected in our everyday tech language”.

Ms Campbell added she isn’t worried about distribution of the new emojis.

In total there will be 71 new variations of the emoji for couples of colour.

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