What Are The Best Ways To Use Emojis Properly?

by STIKIPIX Official customised sticker marketing services

Emojis are difficult to entirely ignore these days, and not just among younger generations; older generations have also embraced emojis. Emojis have made texting and reading text on the web or in applications a more emotive, human, and effective experience as our professional communication language becomes more informal.

Their capacity to communicate sentiments and emotions may be their finest quality. However, we’re not here to discuss how awesome bespoke animated emojis are, but rather how we can effectively employ emojis in product design to make them more inclusive.

● Do not substitute words with emojis.

Emojis should never be used in place of words, regardless of how clear or illustrative they may be. Although they greatly improve the experience, words still rule. Emoji alone will completely change the message because screen readers only read the alt text description of each emoji. This makes it more likely that people will interpret the emoji otherwise than you intended and significantly increases cognitive load because there is no text for them to use as a base message.

● Emojis shouldn't appear before any crucial content or a call to action; text always comes first.

Emoji never appears before a text, always after. Given that words are supreme, they ought to always come first. First, we want people to understand the message. Emojis used before any text will make it difficult for screen reader users to read the content. Emojis have been included in various productivity programmes, which is quite OK, however, there may be a problem if the emoji appears before the text. We should approach emojis and symbols differently because of how they function somewhat differently.

● Avoid using emojis amid sentences.

Emojis should only be used after sentences, which are related to the points made above and previously. Screen reader users will be greatly confused if a moving emoji is placed directly in the centre of the message because they will interpret the emoji's alt text description as a part of the content. Emojis work best to clarify meaning near the conclusion of a statement.

● Use emojis that are easy to understand by all audience members.

Because not all emojis are created equal in terms of clarity, avoid using confusing ones that can cause people to perceive them differently. Keep in mind that we are working to be as varied and inclusive as we can be and that our users may come from a variety of backgrounds, including those related to age, culture, religion, nationality, and so on. An emoji's meaning might be very different from what you thought it meant depending on the reader's background, which could make your message unclear.

Don't leave it up to your audience to determine which emoji you picked to convey your message. When people don't have to make any assumptions, they will read your information faster.

● Avoid using emojis.

Emojis have the advantage of having embedded alt-text descriptions that can be read as text by screen readers, whereas emojis is merely the manipulation of symbols and punctuation that will only be interpreted as punctuation. Users of screen readers can interpret these as typos or grammatical problems in your communication. People who are less accustomed to texting might not instantly recognise 'colon right parenthesis' as a smiley face, however, certain blind and low vision users will undoubtedly recognise it as such.

● Use emojis that are legible on backgrounds both light and dark.

Here, the accessibility rule contrast still holds. Take care to test your emojis on both light and dark backgrounds. If an emoji has several different shades, select the one that works best on both light and dark backgrounds. Avoid using light emojis on light backgrounds, and the opposite is true if an emoji has a light shade. Out of all those thousands of emojis, there should be enough options for you to pick from if your preferred emoji doesn't look well on a bright or dark backdrop. For instance, there are only approximately 5 emojis for the word 'cake.'

Conclusion:

Social Media EMOs are a great pleasure to employ in writing; I do it frequently. However, we must consider the users of the product while including emojis in product design. Because they don't process images and emojis the same way as non-blind users, blind and low-vision users heavily rely on the texts and alt text descriptions we include in our products.

At this point, we draw the line against using emojis in our products to prevent poor user experiences for a particular group of users. When designing a product, designers must make sure that the default position is as accessible as feasible and that ALL users have been taken into account.