I like to imagine that, in thousands of years time, an alien species will land on the desert wasteland that was once Earth and begin combing through our digital records. What they’ll likely discover fairly quickly is the rise of emojis in our daily communications during the late 2000s, a process Google is looking to push further into the modern age with proper 3D models.
The Noto 3D collection of emojis was released earlier this year, but Google has gone into the design process (and a brief history of the form) in-depth in a blog post for World Emoji Day. No, I didn’t know that was a thing either.
“We don’t just ‘laugh’ anymore,” says Google. “We collapse, or internally scream. Modern internet culture has steadily moved from mild expressions to drama, hyperbole and overwhelm.”
“For years, ‘face with tears of joy’ (😂) was the undisputed emoji king, according to Gboard Federated Analytics. But following a multi-year decline, it slipped down the charts by 2025,” the post continues.