If Windows 10 introduced a new design for emojis a couple of years ago, the upcoming launch of Windows 11 was a good opportunity for Microsoft to finally give its emojis a fresh coat of pain. Today, the company revealed that it has redesigned its 1800+ emojis with a new 3D look that looks much more detailed than the previous flat ones.
“Over 1,800 emoji exist within Microsoft 365, and we’ve been working for the past year to dramatically refresh them by creating a system that is innately Fluent. We opted for 3D designs over 2D and chose to animate the majority of our emoji,” the Microsoft Design team explained.
These new 3D emojis will start rolling out this holiday season in Windows and Microsoft Teams, with other Microsoft 365 apps including Yammer and Outlook to follow throughout 2022. The Microsoft Design team has also created brand new emojis inspired by this new hybrid work era, and you can see some concept sketches below. As we reported yesterday, Microsoft is also bringing Clippy back to life and will turn the former Office Assistant into its new paperclip emoji across Microsoft 365 apps.
Microsoft’s new 3D emojis are going live today in the company’s Flipgrid education app, and we’re looking forward to seeing them appear on Windows. “Beyond emoji, we’re bringing our Fluent aesthetic to life within Microsoft 365 via more expressive themes, illustrations, backgrounds, and more,” the Microsoft Design team also emphasized today.
