Smartphone with various emotions floating around

If you frequently use emojis šŸ‘‹, you know there are times when itā€™s a struggle šŸ˜­ to find the perfect image. For all the ā¤ļøand šŸ‘we use daily, sometimes youā€™re left scratching your head šŸ¤”and settling for a lackluster emoji that only half describes how you feel šŸ¤¦ā€ā™‚ļø.

Thankfully, much like the word-based English language, the world of emojis is evolving, with new emojis added regularly šŸŽ‰. While device companies and various platforms (Facebook, Google, etc.) decide how each emoji appears on their network, Unicode, an international committee responsible for computing standards, decides exactly which icons make up the emoji keyboard. So if anyone from Unicode is listening, here are 10 emojis weā€™d like to see on the next big update šŸ™.

Acoustic Guitar

While itā€™s fun to bop your head and rock out from time to time, not every song requires the intensity of an electric guitar (an emoji that already exists šŸŽø). It would benefit us all to have access to an acoustic guitar emoji, which is far more appropriate for those mellow numbers ā€” please reference the Ken sing-along in the Barbie movie. The truth is that the musical instrument options are lacking in general, and we could stand to add a banjo, an accordion, or perhaps bagpipes.

Iced Coffee

Some people love iced coffee year-round, but they have to settle for sending the Hot Beverage ā˜• emoji, depicting a steaming cup. Think about it: If you text a hot coffee to your friend, they may think you want to sit down at a cafe and chat. But a tall iced coffee emoji says, ā€œLetā€™s walk through the park and catch up, chilly treat in hand.ā€

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Dumpster Fire

Sending someone a Fire šŸ”„ emoji may mean that you think something is really cool ā€” the exact opposite of a dumpster fire, which suggests disaster. Unfortunately, we only have separate Wastebasket šŸ—‘ļø and Fire šŸ”„ emojis. You can send the familiar ā€œThis is fineā€ meme in a pinch, but it would be nice to have a go-to emoji for those situations when everything goes awry.

Multiple Balloons

A single red balloon evokes images of the evil clown Pennywise from It ā€” not a birthday bash ā€” and yet šŸŽˆ is the only balloon emoji currently available. A bunch of balloons in festive colors, on the other hand, alongside the party popper and cake emojis, shouts ā€œcelebration.ā€

Angsty Teenager

Is your child or grandchild in an angsty stage of life? Perhaps itā€™s just a phase, but itā€™s one that could be capitalized on by adding an angsty teen emoji. Maybe it could be an expressionless yellow smiley emoji with a goth-style haircut, or a more realistic teenage face rolling their eyes.

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Gingerbread Person

Few symbols are more evocative of the holiday season than gingerbread people, but a gingerbread cookie doesnā€™t exist on the emoji keyboard (yet). The standard Cookie šŸŖlooks like a chocolate chip cookie, and the other option is a Fortune Cookie šŸ„ . While weā€™re requesting sweets, we could use a candy cane emoji, too, as both would help brighten up texting during the holiday season.

Mic Drop

Plenty of situations call for a mic drop ā€” the end of an opinionated venting session, the perfect quip, a snappy retort. The Microphone emoji šŸŽ¤ exists, but we need some motion added to it, similar to how the Speaker Loud Volume emoji šŸ”Š demonstrates the levels of sound. A mic drop emoji has the potential to become one of the most used and popular emojis among texters who need some added emphasis.

Grilled Cheese

As far as cheese emojis, we have a hunk of unmelted Cheese Wedge šŸ§€ and then a sophisticated pot of Fondue šŸ«•. A grilled cheese emoji would be perfect for texting a friend about a late-night craving or those nights when you get home from work and canā€™t be bothered to cook anything more complex.

U.S. State Flags

The Stars and Stripes are represented by an emoji šŸ‡ŗšŸ‡ø, but it would be nice if we could display some home state pride as well. There are flags for almost every world nation, so maybe the flags of the individual U.S. states will be added at some point, too. 

Do you have any emoji ideas youā€™d like to see become a reality? Let us know, and maybe weā€™ll submit a proposal to Unicode for an emoji the WordSmarts community would like to add to the emoji keyboard. 

Featured image credit: Planet Volumes/ Unsplash+
Bennett Kleinman
Staff Writer
Bennett Kleinman is a New York City-based staff writer for Optimism. He is also a freelance comedy writer, devoted New York Yankees and New Jersey Devils fan, and thinks plain seltzer is the best drink ever invented.
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