This is where the melting face emoji becomes relevant. The emoji, featuring a content half-smile as it melts into a puddle, is among the 37 new emojis approved this year by the Unicode Consortium, which sets standards for digital text. Other emojis approved this year include saluting face, dotted line face, and a disco ball. These new emojis will be gradually introduced over the next year. The melting face emoji has already gained popularity on social media, with many viewing it as a symbol of the significant psychological impact of the coronavirus pandemic. One user on Twitter described the melting smiley face emoji as a reflection of the current pandemic mood, while others saw it as a symbol of climate anxiety. Another user predicted that the emoji would be frequently used in the era of climate change apocalypse. The melting face emoji was created in 2019 by Jennifer Daniel and Neil Cohn, who bonded over their love for visual language. Daniel, who goes by the pronouns they/them, is a creative director at Google and a chair for the emoji subcommittee for Unicode, while Cohn is an associate professor at Tilburg University in the Netherlands specializing in cognition and communication. Cohn’s research on representations of emotions in Japanese Visual Language, particularly the concept of "paperification" where characters in manga turn into paper when embarrassed, caught the attention of Daniel. They both realized there was no existing emoji that conveyed this visual convention, so they decided to create one. After considering different options, they settled on the melting face emoji, which Daniel described as more powerful than the paper transformation. This idea of transformation from solid to liquid is also commonly depicted. Cohn pointed out that many popular face emojis are inspired by visual conventions from comics and manga. The first emojis were created in 1999 by a Japanese artist named Shigetaka Kurita, who was inspired by manga. These emojis were intended to make text-based communication easier, as NTT Docomo, a Japanese mobile phone company, had a 250-character limit on messages. Kurita's original set of 176 emojis is now housed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Despite no longer having character restrictions, emojis continue to effectively convey emotions more quickly and flexibly than words, with the melting face being a prime example. On a more literal level, it can be a way to describe the feeling of a broken air conditioner. Figuratively, it can express emotions like embarrassment after a crush interaction, pandemic fatigue, or sarcasm. According to Cohn, emojis tap into a shared metaphorical understanding, such as the idea of melting, that can be applied to various emotions. Emojis are designed to be used in versatile ways, similar to how words can be used in different contexts. Visual language has the potential to be more flexible than verbal language. Illustration has the ability to convey ideas that reality cannot. For example, the concept of a "melting face" can evoke various emotional responses. Emojis themselves may not have deep meanings, but it is the way people interpret and use them that gives them significance. Graphic designer Erik Carter, who created an image of a melting face, emphasized the importance of individual interpretation. Carter expressed that a lot of people may experience a sense of despair due to issues such as climate change and the lack of action from our government. He noted that at times it may seem like the only thing we can do is put on a brave face as we face these challenges.