What you need to know
- Microsoft has announced that it is open sources its Fluent emoji designs.
- Designs and developers will be able to take over 1,500 fluent emoji's and customize them.
- The open-source emoji are available on Github and Figma now.
Microsoft has announced in a blog post today that the company is open sourcing over 1,500 of its Fluent designed emoji, currently found in Microsoft products such as Windows, Teams, Skype, Office, and Xbox. This means designers and developers can take Microsoft's 3D designs and customize them to fit their needs.
Microsoft's Jon Friedman, corporate vice president of design and research highlights a key example of why open sourcing emoji design is important:
"... we wanted to ensure that every creator can build experiences that serve their community’s needs. This especially applies to developers and audiences who haven’t been historically included. A headdress, an Afro, a sari — enabling the world’s majority (aka Black and Brown people) to express themselves how they want, to whom they want, and when they want is not just powerful, but necessary."
The company has released the emoji library on Github and Figma, which can be downloaded now in PNG or SVG file formats. Unfortunately, the open sourcing of Microsoft's emoji only applies to those in the public domain, meaning emoji that represent trademarks such as Clippy or Xbox aren't included in the open-source library.
