 What emoji are missing from your keyboard? When words aren't enough, we use emoji to instantly convey details about who we are, how we see ourselves, and what we believe in. Emoji communicate our moods, celebrations, foods, and more. The Unicode Consortium is the organization that regulates and releases new emoji sets. But anyone can propose a new design. For emoji activist Jennifer A. Lee, emoji are a path to a more inclusive world. I'm one of the co-founders of Emoji Nation, a grassroots organization whose motto is Emoji by the people for the people, and which advocates for more inclusive and representative emoji within the Unicode framework. So given that there is this I think like visceral human desire to communicate through little pictures, I think it's really important that this represents the breath of the human experience. Would you believe that the popular dating app Tender played a role in reflecting the diversity of our relationships? Lee teamed up with Tender to design a set of interchangeable emoji partners. All the different variations you get through Unicode skin tones represent the strength of the people who care about this issue and the people involved in Emoji Nation. I think there's a lot of families that would like to see themselves represented as families. Rayouf Ahoumedi was a 15-year-old student when she began working with Lee on a proposal, The Woman with Head Scarf Emoji. It's a big part of my identity and the first thing that people know about me, before even knowing my name, where I'm from, is that I'm Muslim because of the Head Scarf. And I almost follow each text with an emoji and I wanted to incorporate something so trivial with something that meant a lot because you don't usually see the hijab in such a context. And also in a sense that emojis are a part of advancing technology and the hijab connotes archaic values. I wanted to create an oxymoron of values, something that could actually work together. So that's why I look towards emojis as a medium for representation. For Houston designer Andy Mason, Emoji and digital stickers are a vibrant way to express our love for our cities and neighborhoods. In 2016, Apple announced the ability to have stickers in the iOS 10 Messages app. I wanted to show people what I love about Houston. So once I started drawing, I really had such a good time that I just couldn't stop. This rail bridge in Houston was graffitied with be someone as a way of encouraging people to make a difference in their lives. I really love seeing this driving toward downtown Houston. Artist, designers, Marina Zirko and Veniata Pani are the team behind the 2017 Climoji project. They believe that emoji are a tool to amplify conversations and inspire activism around climate change. Image generating workshops with faculty and students at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts's interactive telecommunications program and environmental studies resulted in the creation of designs for both climate disasters and risks, as well as hopeful and resilient behaviors. We think there's a need for more inviting visual communication around climate change. SMS Emoji can be a catchy shorthand to address these issues. We hope our designs provide humorous visual language that gets people talking about climate change. Emoji are tools for us to use to make our concerns heard and our identities represented. So what emoji are missing from your keyboard and what can you do to change it? Give me a sign the language of symbols.