We're all heart-eyes-exploding-heads over this tool.
Emojis are the perfect way to grease the wheels of a conversation. The comical faces, gestures and objects help to take the edge off a written message, or communicate feelings that just can't be put into words. And while emojis have come along way since starting out as pixel art, sometimes they don't sum up exactly how we feel. Enter Emoji Builder.
Created by Stripe designer Philipp Antoni, Emoji Builder is a fun tool for graphic designers – or anyone in fact – that enables you to customise your own emoji based on Apple assets. While it might not be the first emoji design platform, Emoji Builder stands apart from the rest thanks to the level of customisation it offers. Check it out in action with the video Antoni tweeted below.
Ever had trouble finding just the right emoji to accurately convey your feelings? Presenting 👉 https://t.co/3sWmAlDLOx 👈 pic.twitter.com/CuL6eG3HelNovember 11, 2018
To start building your own emoji, simply click on the element you want to use and play around with the customisation fields until it's looking just right. These fields let you change the placement, height and scale of an element, meaning that you craft your ideal emoji. Once it's perfect, you can save it for future use. Send it to clients, use it on social media, whatever you like (though you might be wise to exercise caution, depending on what you come up with!).
Alternatively, emoji can be generated randomly, resulting in some truly bizarre expressions. We're not sure when you'd need to use a surprised lying face with a wavy mouth, but it's there if you need it.
The batch of assets users can play with are limited to facial expressions, although the drunken wavy mouth that disturbed social media when it made its debut earlier this month is in there, so the selection is pretty up to date. If the Emoji Builder takes off, maybe we can expect to see more icons added to its asset bank in the future? *Makes begging face*
Dom Carter is a freelance writer who specialises in art and design. Formerly a staff writer for Creative Bloq, his work has also appeared on Creative Boom and in the pages of ImagineFX, Computer Arts, 3D World, and .net. He has been a D&AD New Blood judge, and has a particular interest in picture books.
