Google says their new multi-skin tone handshake emoji is near. It was delayed by technical work and the COVID-19 pandemic. This all happened because of Google’s emoji creative director. Jennifer Daniel wondered why there wasn’t skin tone support for the handshake emoji. So, in 2019, she submitted paperwork to Unicode to weigh adding a multi-skin toned handshake.
Creating just one emoji can take up to two years, according to Daniel. Every emoji is encoded and the coding gets more complex with gender or skin tone options. Fortunately, the multi-skin toned handshake emoji should appear in the next release, Emoji 14.0, meaning you should see it appear in 2022
“Every time we add a new emoji, there’s a risk it could exclude people without our consciously knowing it. The best we can do is ensure emoji continue to be as broad, flexible and fluid as possible. Just like language. Just like you. 🦋”
Jennifer Daniel, Google’s creative director for emoji
