Emoji Design Philosophy by Platform: Apple, Google, Samsung, Microsoft and Twitter
Apple, Google, Samsung, Microsoft and Twitter draw the same emoji differently. Each style, big changes like Google's blob, and how to compare them here.
For emoji, an international standard called Unicode sets the number and the name, and each company draws the actual picture. That's why even the same 😀 has slightly different eyes, mouth size and colors from one company to the next.
If you treat the difference as just "who draws better," it's not much fun. Each company's emoji carry its ideas about screen style, harmony with surrounding text and readability at small sizes. This article looks at the emoji styles of the major companies and how they've changed, from a design point of view.
Each company's style at a glance
Each company's direction for drawing emoji is quite distinct.
- Apple: Dimensional pictures with gloss, gradients and fine shading. Its hallmark is carefully worked detail that gives a sense of texture even at small sizes, and it is the style many people picture as the "default look" of emoji.
- Google: Makes Noto Emoji, the default emoji on Android. It chose bright colors and simple forms that read as friendly and clear. It is released as open source, so anyone can download and use it.
- Samsung: Uses its own emoji on Galaxy devices. It once drew attention for a strongly individual design, but it has since been refined in a direction that doesn't stray far from the other companies.
- Microsoft: Makes the emoji for Windows and Teams. In the Windows 10 days it was a flat design with thick black outlines, and it has now changed to Fluent emoji.
- Twitter (now X): Made a flat, simple design called Twemoji and released it as open source. As a result, it's used on many web services outside Twitter.
In broad strokes, Apple moved toward "realistic, rich texture," Google and Twitter toward "simple, crisp flat color," and Microsoft from "flat with thick outlines" to "soft dimensionality."
Google: from blobs to round faces
The most famous scene in Google's emoji history is the "blob." Up through Android 7, Google's face emoji weren't round faces but shapes that looked like soft jelly or water drops.
Blobs had many fans who found them cute, but they also had problems. The face shape itself was so different from other companies that the same emoji often read with a different expression. Most of the people you message use devices from other companies, so the judgment was that for emoji, "reading with the same meaning" matters more than personality.
In the end, Google changed the design to the round yellow faces it has today, starting with Android 8.0 Oreo in 2017. Blobs are gone, but they remain such an iconic design that some people still miss them.
Samsung: the big redesign of 2018
Samsung's old emoji looked so different from other companies' that they were often talked about. A typical example is 🍪. While other companies drew a round chocolate chip cookie, the old Samsung design looked like a square cracker. The face emoji had distinctive expressions too, and sometimes they were read differently from what the sender intended.
Samsung redrew its emoji extensively in 2018, when it launched its new user interface, One UI. From then on, Samsung's emoji moved closer to the other companies' so that meanings no longer diverged. Like the cleanup of Google's blobs, it's a case that shows that in emoji design, "being read similarly" ended up being the key standard.
Microsoft: Fluent and 3D
Microsoft signaled a big change in 2021 by unveiling Fluent emoji. What caught the eye at the unveiling was the 3D style with soft dimensionality and lighting. The soft, clay-doll look of the faces felt completely different from the thick black outlines of the old Windows emoji.
What actually went into Windows 11, released the same year, was not the 3D style but a nearly flat 2D Fluent emoji. The 3D style later began to be used in places like Teams. So it helps to know that "Fluent emoji" come in a flat version and a dimensional version depending on where you see them, and you won't get confused.
Twitter: open-source Twemoji
Twitter released Twemoji as open source so anyone could put it in their own service. Because it can show the same look regardless of device, many websites and apps adopted Twemoji.
When Twitter became X, updates to the original repository stopped, and now a fork made by the developer community, jdecked/twemoji, keeps it going by adding new emoji.
What designers all struggle with
Styles differ by company, but the problems emoji designers run into are similar.
They must read at a very small size
Most emoji are seen at text size, smaller than a fingernail. Fine texture and shading that look great on a large screen can turn to mush when shrunk. So the basic approach is to draw the parts that carry feeling, like the eyes and mouth, large and clear, and keep the rest simple. That is also why flat designs like Twemoji look crisp at small sizes.
One name, many interpretations
Even with the same name from Unicode, the designer decides which moment to draw. Depending on the company, 🤗 (smiling face with open hands) looks either like arms spread to give a hug or like a "ta-da!" with waving hands. 😬 (grimacing face) can read as an awkward smile or as a clenched-teeth look of trouble, depending on the design. These are the emoji where differences between companies are felt most.
Too different from the others is a problem
Messages are delivered to devices from other companies too, so if only one company picks a unique interpretation, misunderstandings follow. The reason Google's blobs and the old Samsung design were cleaned up, and the reason other companies followed one by one after Apple changed 🔫 to a water pistol, comes down to the need for emoji to be read with the same meaning.
Comparing three designs on this site
On the emoji detail pages at EmojiCanvas there is a section for images in each design, where you can see three designs side by side.
- Google Noto: The same family as the default Android emoji
- Twemoji: The flat design that started at Twitter
- Microsoft Fluent: The same family as Windows 11 emoji
Apple and Samsung designs are not shown as images on this site because of licensing. Instead, the large emoji at the top is drawn by your own device right now, so if you use an iPhone or Galaxy you can compare your device's design with the three images (for the newest emoji from Emoji 16.0 on, the top one is also shown as a Noto image).
To compare, pick emoji with subtle expressions and the differences stand out.
- 😬Compare how strong the awkwardness looks
- 🤗Compare the hands: hug or "ta-da"
- 🥴Compare how exaggerated the woozy face is
Summary: between individuality and consistency
The history of emoji design has been a search for balance between each company's individuality and the demand to be read with the same meaning. Google's blobs and the old Samsung design were cleaned up because, in the end, emoji are "characters" exchanged with other devices.
Still, each company's own colors and textures remain. If you're curious about an emoji, compare its three designs on its detail page. Each company's design philosophy shows up a little even in the same 😀.
Last checked 2026-10-23