How the new Apple emoji got their skin tones: It's not what you think

Apple rolled out new developer betas for OS X and iOS Monday — which included, amongst other things, the first look at a more diverse set of emoji.

The move comes a few months after the Unicode Consortium, the group that governs the emoji standard, proposed an update to address emoji diversity.

The new emoji options include different skin color and hair combinations for a slew of characters. And although much of the reaction to the new emoji has been positive, some users — particularly in Asian communities — are upset and confused by the default emoji skin color, which is yellow.

So what's going on with those yellow-faced emoji? What is that trying to represent? And how did the skin colors get picked anyway?

That's what we're here to sort out.

Understanding how Unicode is addressing emoji diversity

IMAGE: MASHABLE SCREENSHOT, APPLE

In the beta versions for OS X 10.10.3 beta and iOS 8.3, Apple has introduced support for emoji in five different skin tones. Apple is basing these skin tones on the proposed standards the Unicode Consortium has set out for Unicode 8.0, which is expected to be fully ratified later this year.

The Unicode Consortium has an entire draft document of the spec dedicated to emoji, an entire section of which is focused on diversity.

Quoting from that document (emphasis ours):

People all over the world want to have emoji that reflect more human diversity, especially for skin tone. The Unicode emoji characters for people and body parts are meant to be generic, yet following the precedents set by the original Japanese carrier images, they are often shown with a light skin tone instead of a more generic (nonhuman) appearance, such as a yellow/orange color or a silhouette.

Five symbol modifier characters that provide for a range of skin tones for human emoji are planned for Unicode Version 8.0 (scheduled for mid-2015). These characters are based on the six tones of the Fitzpatrick scale, a recognized standard for dermatology (there are many examples of this scale online, such as FitzpatrickSkinType.pdf). The exact shades may vary between implementations.

In other words, the Unicode Consortium has focused on five different emoji modifiers that will apply a different skin tone based on the Fitzpatrick scale; more on that below.

The default emoji color is yellow/orange; one of these modifiers can be applied to provide the emoji character with a different skin and/or hair tone.

IMAGE: UNICODE

The Emojipedia blog has a good overview of how the new updates work in iOS 8.3 and OS X 10.10.3. It also posted a great explanation of how the emoji skin tones work.

The idea is that the emoji standard will take a base glyph (the fancy word for emoji icon) and apply a color palette to it based on the Fitzpatrick scale. On devices and platforms that support Unicode 8.0, that means emoji with different skin tones will show up as expected.

For devices that don't support Unicode 8.0 (or that don't have specific emoji glyphs drawn for each skin tone), the icon alongside a color swatch may appear.

The new emoji are designed to default to the old, non-diverse emoji on devices or platforms that might not support the latest standards — in other words, no white boxes just because the person you're texting doesn't have an up-to-date phone.

The Fitzpatrick scale

The five different skin tones that are available as options for the emoji are based on theFitzpatrick scale.

This is a dermatological scale that classifies human skin color. It is not based on race or ethnicity; instead, it is based on how different types of skin react to ultraviolet light.

There are six levels in the Fitzpatrick scale, ranging from Type I (which is very light, always burns in direct sunlight and never tans) to Type VI (which is deeply pigmented dark brown or black and never burns).

Unicode decided to combine Types I and Types II into one modifier (we assume because the differences are difficult to distinguish at the pixel level), for a total of five modifiers, below.

IMAGE: UNICODE

It's important to understand that 

the Fitzpatrick scale is not based on ethnicity

the Fitzpatrick scale is notbased on ethnicity; it is purely based on how skin tones react to ultraviolet light. After all, ethnicity or race often have very little to do with skin tone.

For instance, I rate a Type I on the Fitzpatrick scale. My older sister would classify as a Type III, maybe even a Type IV. But in terms of ethnicity, we're both Caucasian.

So why is the default emoji yellow?

IMAGE: UNICODE

The big issue of confusion seems to be around the decision to make the default emoji yellow — which can connote some painful, racist feelings for people from some parts of the world, particularly in Asian communities.

It's easy to see why some observers would assume that the yellow face is supposed to represent Asian individuals. But again, these emoji modifiers are not based on ethnicity or race— the tones are simply based on how skin reacts to ultraviolet light.

Second, the goal in creating a new "default" emoji color was to get away from picking a human-based default. Historically, human emoji have often been shown with light skin tones. This is a problem the Unicode Consortium wanted to get away from.

In its draft proposal, the Unicode Consortium writes that "when a human emoji is not immediately followed by a emoji modifier character, it should use a generic non-realistic skin tone—such as that typically used for the smiley faces—or a silhouette."

If you look at the colors on the Unicode Consortium's draft and in Apple's beta, the yellow color chosen for the generic icons match the yellow of the smiley face emoji. And the origins of the yellow smiley face symbol appear to go back to a graphic designer in Massachusetts in 1963; there was no Asian connection there, either.

The standard is still in progress

Work on the Unicode 8.0 draft continues, and it is not expected to be ratified until later this year. As a result, the Unicode Consortium is still taking feedback from users and vendors, especially when it comes to emoji diversity.

If there is a problem with the default color being smiley-face yellow, because of the unintended racial connotations, it's still possible that the Consortium (or any of its members) will consider changing its recommendations for how to handle the default color.

Regardless, just remember that the yellow faces that may soon be the default emoji colors arenot supposed to represent actual humans. Not unless they live in Springfield.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.