Microsoft Has Open-Sourced Over 1,500 3D Emoji Designs

Microsoft is giving the world a chance to create better emoji designs.

The Washington-based tech giant recently made most of its emoji characters open-sourced, allowing other people to use and modify them however they want following their redesign, per Ars Technica.

Microsoft's open sourcing of its emoji characters is allegedly part of its Windows 11 design push to encourage "creativity and inclusivity in the emoji space."

Microsoft Emoji Character Open-Sourcing Details

Microsoft was recently found to have open-sourced more than 1,500 of its 3D emoji on relevant websites for free, allowing others to modify and use them however they like.

XDA Developers mentioned that the new emojis Microsoft launched in 2021 come in three variants: a fully 3D version with texture and color gradients, a flat "color" version with basic color without the 3D versions' textures, and gradients, and a monochromatic "high contrast" version.

Now in its open source state, Microsoft has them available in various formats, including SVG, PNG, and JPG, so they can be used by anyone regardless of the format they want to work with.

However, there are some emojis that are not included due to copyright, such as Clippy, Microsoft's office assistant that was introduced in 1996, per Artsy, as Clippy replaced the paper clip emoji in Microsoft's 2021 emojis.

Another emoji that was excluded from being open-sourced is the Microsoft Windows logo, understandably.

Why Did Microsoft Do It?

Jon Friedman, Microsoft's CVP of design and research, said that the company wasn't planning to open source its work as it was initially focused on building the body of work, per The Verge. However, Friedman noted that the idea suddenly started to pop around.

He also added that open sourcing the emojis aligned with Microsoft's belief and perspective that the more open source it is, the more product excellence it can build, leading the company to be more relevant for all humanity.

With the emojis now available on open source websites like GitHub and Figma, Friedman expects that the company will see "really unique, specific, and... really broadbly applicable" from the creators who will be using them in the future.

He also recounted how this freedom of creation led to Microsoft seeing people creating Marvel versions of its app icons in the past - something which Friedman called "awesome."

Another reason why Microsoft made most of its emojis open-sourced is due to the changing state of work, with remote and hybrid work changing how people express themselves.

Friedman found that without the luxury of body and facial language, people are now using emojis to convey their emotions to other people. As such, Microsoft wanted to make people's conversations richer to the point they could feel "a little more comfortable with authentically reacting to things emotively."

"There's power in recognizing, honoring, and building on the work of others," Friedman said. "Our creator community is infinitely imaginative, and we can't wait to see how you break boundaries, remix our designs, and take the Fluent emoji to places we can't foresee."