Bandage Emoji proposed to Unicode consortium
A bandage emoji could be the latest symbol to be included in the emoji standard with a proposal submitted to the Unicode Consortium.
A new proposal to the Unicode Consortium could see a bandage emoji joining the current standard when Unicode 12 launches next year.
Proposed by Melissa Thermidor and Jennifer Lee, the adhesive bandage emoji (the official name on the proposal) would give users the way to express small injuries
The design of the emoji shows your typical sticky bandage, complete with breathing holes and the central square protrusion for the cotton underneath.
Demand for this emoji is surprisingly high given the subject matter, with Instagram showing 401,494 posts with the bandage hash tag and 16,345 for the British language variant, plaster.
The proposal then compares search data with the existing syringe emoji; the bandage once again performs impressively - showing better results in Google Trends data.
Sequencing potential for the bandage emoji seems pretty high, with a suggested usage showing that it could be shown to mend/heal. For example, a broken heart emoji alongside the bandage could suggest mending a broken heart. It could also be used to indicate that you wish to fix something and could also be used to suggest medical tests.
The proposal rounds off with snippets of user interest from various social media sites including twitter; the phrase “why is there no bandage emoji” repeated often.
A potential issue with the adhesive bandage symbol is the existence of the bandaged head emoji; a sad looking face with a bandage wrapped around the head. However, a dedicated bandage emoji would certainly be more flexible.
The quality is high for next year’s Unicode release, with symbols like the shorts emoji, pinch hand gesture and the butter emoji all worthy contenders for inclusion in an official release.
