Inside the Secret Society That Approves Every New Emoji

• *Why You Can’t Just Ask for a New Icon**

Ever wonder why there’s a flamingo emoji but still no proper interrobang? It all comes down to the Unicode Consortium, the non-profit organization that manages the standardized code for all text characters globally, from the letter 'A' to the 🥑. They are the "big cheeses" who decide which new ideas graduate from sketch to screen.

Getting an emoji approved is not a casual request—it’s a rigorous, academic process that can take years. You can’t just send a quick email asking for a new character; you have to write a massive, formal proposal, often in PDF format, that acts as a technical and cultural thesis on your proposed icon.

The Consortium’s committee isn't interested in popularity contests alone; they're interested in utility. Your proposal must provide compelling evidence proving five key things:

1. High Usage: You must provide quantifiable data, including screenshots from Google Search and Google Trends, proving that millions of people worldwide are already talking about the concept your emoji represents.

2. Multiple Concepts: The icon must be versatile. They want to know if a 🦈 can represent an animal *and* a "card shark" or "loan shark." They reject concepts that are too niche or literal.

3. Breaks New Ground: The emoji must not be redundant. For example, arguing for a white wine emoji when a red wine emoji already exists can be a tough sell, as the concept of "wine" is already covered.

4. Distinctiveness: It must be legible and visually distinct, even at the tiny size of a mobile screen.

Crucially, the Unicode rules also include a list of automatic rejections. If your proposal is for a specific person (living or dead), a company logo, a brand, or a deity, it's instantly binned. They also explicitly state that you cannot justify an emoji based on furthering a "cause," no matter how worthy. This technical and legal rigor ensures that when an emoji is added, it is a stable, universally applicable tool for the entire planet—which is why the committee reviews hundreds of pages of documentation before approving a single new icon.