IssueTracker

Agree. I  think the new emoji is horrible. The blob has more emontional and lot cuter.

@2 The blob also has its unique character of being on Android.

I totally agree with this.

New emoji is a total piece of crap, the random gradients and strokes look particularly bad on small screens.

Blob is far better in terms of aesthetics and identifiability.

I also agree. The blobs had their own unique appeal, and in my opinion represented the unicode style the best. Now, you hace also gone the route apple recently took and added these weird, awful gradients which not only decrease contrast and simplicity, but also make things like some food and fruits look horribly plastic-like, unnatural and unrecognizable (just look at the bacon 🥓😭) instead of the simple, papery and & recognizable previous versions.
While I think that some emojis may have gotten a little better, I would have much preferred if you just tweaked the blobs a little instead of redoing everything..

The new emojis also introduce another problem: while you wanted to unify them with other platforms, they still look different to previous versions and other platforms, further fragmenting the market by introducing a new standard - I now always have to wonder how they looked previously and if they match the emotion I wanted to show on the recipients device.
Guys, it's still time to roll back, by now only a few people have them on their devices, but if you roll them out to final O, they will be there forever, and fragment the market of emojis even more.

<cue in xkcd 927>
https://xkcd.com/927/

@5 Funny. I thought of this XKCD more related to Kotlin. Just that finally Java was so deep into Android, and Kotlin will probably replace it. But that's another topic...

Thank you for reporting this issue. We have shared this with our product and engineering team and will update this issue with more information as it becomes available.

I also like the curent emojis much better than the proposed ones. I love the flat style, the blobbyness of the faces and the cuteness of the animals. In the new ones, I don't like the outlines, the weird animal faces, the uniform look.

In the best case, you would revise your decision to move to the new emoji set.

If you think that's not possible, … PLEASE make it an option, so that you can switch between the two emoji styles? *blobby face blowig a kiss*

One more for the old emoji. The blobs (or puddings, as I like to call them) were my favorite part of the Android emoji. The new versions are horrible, especially with the attempts at "3D" with the outlines and the gradients. Like someone mentioned, the contrast has gone out the door and my favorite emoji, the blue heart, now looks like a blue alien's chest. :(

New emojis are definitely a bad idea. At the first sight, I thought someone misplaced the image, because I couldn't believe it was the new emojis. It just couldn't be. They already look outdated. Moving away from blobs is a horrible idea... They definitely had some character and were instantly recognizeable. High-five blob was my favorite.

The new ones are so bad, i've ranted so much on twitter and later medium when i found how proud they were of their designs :(
https://twitter.com/Shattered_Earth/status/866820570553368576

Many people have pointed out the rabbit looks like it has bloodied fangs, and over all they are just a disaster.

I agree. I'm currently using the Developer Preview and I got really dissappointed with some of its new features. Emojis, for instance, now look awful.

There is a petition with 750+ people that want the old cat emoji back, at least:
https://www.change.org/p/google-inc-bring-back-the-old-cat-emoji-in-android-o

@13 It's the same link I've written on the first post of this thread ...

Whoops! Sorry about that.

Deviating away from the current blobby style is a pretty surefire way of making the generation of social media and other dedicated phones users feel like they had parts taken away from them.  Being able to effectively express oneself is crucial online, and Google's decision to change them like this will cause backlash. The current egg yolk blob emoji are some of the better design decisions I've seen in years that many other users could agree with. Don't be stale trying to mimic Apple or others. Keep what you have going now, be unique, cute, expressive. That's what phone users who care about emotion truly want in their product.

The only legitimate issues with the older emoji is the size inconsistency AND certain expressions on certain blobs looked totally different on most other platforms. Other than that, the upcoming emoji are SUCH a downgrade, I couldn't possibly understand how someone looked at these and thought it truly conveyed Google's sense of stylistic individuality. Like everyone before me had stated, it looks like Apple's style of emoji, even similar to Twitter's... So much so, that I could tell someone that these were from either platform and they'd probably believe me. They look traced, even. I'll echo the crowd further and say that the over use of gradients have to go. The sense of color contrast is there, but it shouldn't be used to add depth like this. The flat, simplistic design of the older emoji translated the best BECAUSE they're simple. They're easy on the eyes. I'm truly astonished these came from Google Android.

We are not planning to revert considering reverting the emoji design.

With any big design changes, it is often faced with some change aversion. The general public reception as well as the press reception has been positive, which has been encouraging. Ultimately, this redesign also helped fix a series of cross-platforms communications issues where meaning was lost due to the radically different style of the old emoji. Because emoji need to be universal and communicate clearly with everyone, we strongly believe this change is positive and necessary.

Sampling of press responses:
https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/17/android-o-emoji/
https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/17/15655584/google-fixing-bad-emoji-android-o-io-2017
https://www.cnet.com/news/google-emoji-android-o-apple-iphone-samsung/

With regard to the fragmentation issue, we have along with support library 26 beta, introduced a library to unify the emoji and avoid the fragmentation problem. Documentation: https://developer.android.com/preview/features/emoji-compat.html

If you look at the comments on the verge article (the only site with enough people who to care to comment) a large majority of them don't like the change. I have set to see any threads or tweet chains on social media praising it either, I know my own threads have garnered plenty of RTs and Reblogs from artists and tech industry alike. RIP if you will forge ahead with objectively bad design I guess, it's a same no one on staff will admit a lot of them are just.. bad. Look at that rabbit everyone thinks has bloody fangs. But. Whatever. :)

*yet *shame

Anyway I'm just going to drop some links, you are free to read all the replies and i'm sure you can figure out how to search for the retweets with additional commentary as well:
https://twitter.com/Shattered_Earth/status/866847065690710016
http://shattered-earth.tumblr.com/post/160970565943/bunnevolence-shattered-earth-how-to-ruin-the

I don't think any of the news sources you provided have as much engagement or feedback from actual people and not a single writer so take of it what you will.

I agree completely. The one thing google had going for these emojis than the others in the market were the lack of gradient, the amount of character, and general uniqueness. The flat color made them more palatable to look at. The fact that each face was not uniform helped convey a lot of genuine emotion. And again they were nice to look at.

Using a cookie cutter head stock for each emotion, making them symmetrical, and using a gradient for shadowing looks lazy. And honestly is lazy. Excuse my language but they are downright hideous from a graphic design standpoint. The previous minimalistic look worked much better considering the small fields of text they are going to be presented on.

They had a unique design. Maybe there is some pseudo-linguistic explanation as to why the new emoticon designs are more communicative, but the new ones are like every other set from every other company and the fact that Google didn't have faith in their own original designs is disheartening. I wish they actually iterated on their previous designs instead of substituting them for something standard and bland and I wish that they didn't force these designs onto the Android userbase.

And this is coming from someone who knows nothing about design. If I at least had a choice in the matter, I would've been fine with this decision, but it's frustrating that something I genuinely enjoy is being replaced without care.

Okay, I'm a designer, my sister is a designer. We always enjoyed making fun of apple emojis, saying "maybe their designer wanted to troll them, look at these hideous emoji" while enjoying our beautiful, flat and incredibly cool blobs. I got upset with the N changes that made the blobs look upfront (the blowing kiss one, especially), but this is absurd.

As far as I've seen, except for engadget, every other comment section is overwhelmingly against the change, and the reasons are obvious, you just don't want to admit you failed with this. I understand it's a pain to work a lot and redesigning tons of images to get a bad reception, but sometimes you have to accept when you miss your target. I'm sure iOS users are pleased with the change, because they love everything that apple feeds them, but we're not apple users, "we're together, not the same," and I thought that was a basic philosophy of yours.

I can't seem to be able to express my disappointment with just words, I don't remember about any design decision more out of tone than this on any company ever.

@18 Can you at least make the ones you've designed better? Just look at the examples ... The rabbit doesn't look like a rabbit... The turtle looks tired...

Um yes I too would like it if you fixed your garbage emojis. Thank you.

@25 Sadly they closed this thread. If you create a new one, telling to at least improve them, please let us know. I will star it.

First of all, the new emojis do not follow material design at all, and remind of the MSN days, when gradients and skeumorphism was everywhere. The blobs, however, fit material design well, even if they are a bit inconsistent. Also, what did you do with the poor cat?!

The overall drawing style is ugly. The animal shapes are weird, not organic, while the old ones were full of personality. This is a step backward. Google really should reconsider. This is a terrible solution for small problems the blob emojis were facing. Google should understand that you don't need to make emojis look this bad just to make them legible.

The new ones look awful. Graphically, these new ones are SUCH a big downgrade. You can bet that as soon as I get Android O, I'll be either finding an app to swap over to the older emoji set or I'll be making such an app, myself.

And, no, the public has not had any warm reception to this. Most people are completely unaware and the ones that are actually pretty much hate these designs. I'd love to see one link to a popular blog praising this change, because I can't even find one.

In case Google needs some "press responses" to reconsider their emoji decisions, here's one: https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/25/15688528/google-blob-emoji-android-o-rip

And it took them 18 months to design these... LOL. It's pretty much a ripoff of Apple's emojis. The blobs were at least unique; these emojis are pretty much a ripoff of Apple's design.

Google, the biggest Apple fanboy.

The new emoji look generic and lifeless. The blob have unique personality and the fact that were on a consistent colour made them look better. Most of the new ones don't represent the state they are supposed.
For example, the kissing emoji look embarrassed. Why should I look flushed when I kiss someone? Is this an American thing?
The sad one has so much blue it look ill instead...

This design choice is completely backwards and regressive.

These designs are hideous compared to the cute emojis we already have and appreciate. There is no reason for this change and few, if any, seem glad for it.

The new emojis look beyond awful. Makes android UX feel shoddy.

Why would you not follow your own design specifications?? You've thrown a ton of gradients into everything, in direct contradiction of your established Android style. The actual icon design is also bad, I don't know who you had draw these, and even more I don't know who approved them, because they seriously look like an amateur whipped them up in Illustrator from rough memory.

Thankfully my phone is rooted so I won't have to use this crap, but I would *seriously* reconsider keeping these emojis. They're a huge feature for your younger users and something like this could very well drive young buyers to a different OS.

Honestly I haven't thought about rooting my phone in a long time, but if my phone gets Android O, literally the only reason I would root it is to get rid of these hideous emojis. The gradients are very unpleasant, and all of the character of the old emojis has been lost. The excuse is to make it more in line with other emoji packs (Apple, etc), but that could have been much more easily and tbh much less hideously accomplished by simply altering a few facial expressions on the blobs. As it is, instead, every good and cute emoji has suffered to make the facial expressions even less similar and relatable.

I am in agreement with the majority of the people here. Not only are these new emoji designs a step down from what they were, but the new designs conflict very much with the Material Design guidelines.

Please don't fall victim to the sunk-cost fallacy; however much work went into creating these new emojis, just cut your losses. These emojis are terrible.

Just adding my support for the old emoji or fixing the new set. Gradients look terrible on small icons and the borders are superfluous and unaesthetic. The animal faces are also no longer cute

The new emojis are unpleasing to the eye & less dynamic than the old emojis. Where the old emojis had interesting 3/4 views of some icons, the new set only displays a boring, head-on perspective. The gradient coloration & thick, black outlines also muddle the overall design. The old designs were much better. I'm not sure which intern was owed a favor to land the new emoji design job, but this needs to stop. Your old emoji designs were much cleaner, more dynamic, and much more cute.

:'(

The new emojis are terrible and badly designed. Please keep the cute blobs.

The new emojis don't seem to fit into the general Android aestethic. On top of that, I really prefer the old, much 'cuter' look.

This is an absolute joke, and this team is in denial.  Will undoubtedly be reverted at some point, and go down as yet another embarrassing example of Google's many missteps.  The lack of internal consistency at this company is very, very obvious to the public.

Revert the emojis pleaaseee google, you arent apple which is the reason we android users love you.

Gradient is contrary to your own design specification. If you must do away with the blob profile that's one thing, but swapping out non face designs for garbage versions of the same icon (cat, rabbit, turtle, etc) was extremely poor decision making. This is objectively true and not the result of change aversion. Apple's popularity is waning and you have the opportunity to influence future design instead of simply homogenize to an already dated looking emoji set. Pro apple tech blogs are the only the non-negative criticism I have personally seen regarding this change. If you go to where people use and appreciate Android for feedback instead you will see this decision is universally despised.

Please keep the previous design. This isn't just change aversion. The old ones absolutely have a level of charm and a personality that the new ones lack. Consider that comparisons of the old emoji to their contemporaries generally regarded Google's as superior. The new ones look very much like the alternatives at that time, and to Apple's, incidentally.

My personal use of emoji in recent years has increased, and I can say with confidence that this is mostly due to how much I enjoy their appearance on google products. I like to communicate with those lovely little blobs and creatures. I can honestly say that if they were to change, my habits would change also. I'd simply avoid using emoji altogether.

These redesigned emojis legit look like low-budget apple knockoffs, especially with the godawful gradient. The old ones were far better. Please listen to all of the negative feedback you're getting and don't let your pride get in the way of fixing a mistake.

Design rules say not to use a gradient.
Design flaw.
Fix your terrible Apple clone emoji's, thanks.

Please at the very minimum fix the animal emojis. They went from adorable to creepy as hell. I'm in agreement with what everyone has said about the emojis not conforming to your own design standards and generally looking god awful compared to the blobs.

i agree, these new emojis look really rough compared to the current (blob) generation.  why is google taking style notes from the late 90's/early 2000's?  i understand that they want to unify the platforms, but why create yet another standard?  it really just reminds me of this xkcd comic:  https://xkcd.com/927/

Don't you dare update my emoji's to these ones.

These look terrible and soulless and I'm going to stay on an old version of Android or download a pirate emoji pack with the old ones on it as I refuse to use those new ones.

I honestly don't understand how nobody involved in creating these new ones doesn't see how much worse they are.

Any soul in the old emoticons have absolutely been ripped out and peed on with the new ones.

At least allow us to make use of both sets.

> Because emoji need to be universal and communicate clearly with everyone, we strongly believe this change is positive and necessary.

What happened to "Be together, not the same"?

The original emojis convinced my partner to switch from iOS. These new ones are so rough.

Gradients went out of style in the mid 2000's.  It looks "cheap", like generic store brand products.  The previous emojis looked great, the solid colors and simplicity made them objectively better designed. There was no need to change them.

The new emojis look just awful. Fucking terrible. And this isn't like a "people​are resistant to change" kind of bad reaction, this is a "this is legitimately horrifying" reaction. When I first saw the new bunny, I thought it was some kind of disgusting mutant mouse creature. The old ones were so cute! WHYYYY

Guys, I've decided to make a new, a bit different request, to have the option to use the previous emojis, as an additional ones to the new ones:
https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/62256231

I hope Google will re-consider this option.

At least an option to change back or keep the old blobs? Why?

They looked gorgeous and not everyone likes the "standard" emojis.

The changes are terrible, but even more importantly, why can we not have consistency in emojis across platforms? Many of the android emojis come out differently on desktop — e.g. trance eyes vs dead eyes — and vice versa. What is the intention behind this? You have also replaced older face emojis with newer ones with DIFFERENT expressions, which really can be frustrating. Consistency is something you learn pretty early in design school, so I'm honestly wondering what your thought process on this is.

I do not like the new emojis. Please do not change without asking.

Google designers - please follow the styling guides laid out for Android developers w/r/t flat colors, no gradient usage, specific palette usage, etc

not a fan of the new emojis. the old android emojis were one of my fave features of the OS. all in all not going to ruin my life, but I'd like to add my voice to the chorus of folks requesting that you don't make this change. thanks!

As someone who used a Samsung phone (with its own generic set of emojis), any arguments that the Google blobs were not cross-platform or universal is weak at best. Some emojis didn't translate well, but for the most past, I was almost always able to choose an emoji on any device and have it convey the exact thing I intended to. The new versions are generic and weak; despite the 18 months that apparently went into developing them, they look like emojis you'd find on a cheap Chinese iPhone knockoff. They completely lack character and uniqueness, and fail on many fronts to convey the emotions and reactions they supposedly represent. Why would you want to make your product that much more like everything else that already exists, instead of staying the path and keeping your unique style?

These emojis are a mid-century lobotomy, half-assedly scrambling something for ill-defined reasons; you leave a drooling shell behind and congratulate yourselves for doing such a good job.

I have only used Android phones since they were available. The blob-style emojis made them feel unique and special to Android devices, even though they were compatible with all when sent. To change the design this far, and to add gradients, is honestly pitiful. The design looks as if it was trying to copy the IOS emoji design, but failed miserably. Please, please keep the blob.

seriously bad design.

HI Google these really are very bad - no warmth or awww in them! Instead, plenty of color gradient, thick borders, and vaguely menacing/deranged facial expressions. Don't have to return the old ones, but definitely back to the drawing board on these.

Hello I'd like to apply as a graphics designer for google. Here's my portfolio

In case that image doesn't work (doesn't work for me?) here's my portfolio of emoji uploaded to imgur https://i.imgur.com/S5Do5Bv.png

I came here to pile on about how horrible these new emoji are, no it's not change aversion, they're just really bad.

Contents scrubbed on user request by admin.

The proposed new emojis look very dated and poorly designed. I love the blob shapes dearly; they have a unique charm compared to other company's emojis, and they're much cleaner without the bold outlines and gradient.

For real, this isn't about change aversion. That does happen, yes, but these are actually just bad designs. I'm a graphic designer so I can usually tell good design from bad design. I don't know who you consulted on these, but seriously, they're just terrible.

The new gradient emojis look like terribly designed dollar store stickers. Please revert back to the flat material design.

Look at this reddit thread with 14k+ upvotes. https://www.reddit.com/r/CrappyDesign/comments/6elhjc/the_new_android_emoji_set/

Pretty impressive amount of hate towards the new emojis.

This are absolutely hideous. Please don't fix what isn't broken, Google.

I very much enjoy your ORIGINAL emojis. Don't try to copy apple. Theirs look awful compared to cute blobbies.

Maybe give the ability to install different sets on O, and then someone could pick up the blobs and update them?

I mean, I will root if not, there's no way I'm using these.

This sucks. Just because Apple does it some way doesn't make it good. The animals are way cuter in the old emoji set, and the blobs were fun. I don't care what some stupid reporter says, these are bad and I hate them.

That's not all, they introduced gradients. GRADIENTS. Google developed its own design guidelines that specifically state gradients should NOT be used. Every single Google product and service follows the colour guidelines (flat colours, specific shades). Not one of them has gradients.
Then they do this. The puke-inducing colours and gradients on ugly emojis with thick outlines go completely against their own interface designs. I really hope somebody updates the Android N emojis to add the new ones from Emoji 5.0 in blob style. I'd install that on my phone in an instant.

These new emoji's are terrible... Who thought this was a good change?

New emojis look like something horrible out of AOL messenger from 1997. The blobs are so cute, unique, and adorable. Please keep them around.

Blobs are way better! Why would you use gradients in 2017?

How is this in keeping with Google's own design specification? This doesn't fit anywhere near material design; I feel like this must be a really bad joke.

I have nothing new to add to this discussion, but let it be said that I agree with most of the above complaints and suggestions.

I'm not adverse to change, I LOVE change.

But I am adverse to crappy design.

The blobs are the best emoji available. They are visually appealing and they are extremely expressive.

I don't know how such an idiotic decision came to be or how you feel like you're making a good job by cherry picking your examples of support for these new emojis.

Just don't...

Yes can you please change them back. The colorful flat designs were very enjoyable and we'll designed.

So I'm somebody who doesn't have any Android products or really see Google emojis at all. I was vaguely familiar with the blob faces but that was it. Seeing the befores and afters of their new emojis was my first time seeing either of the sets really. And man is it tragic.

99% of the old designs were absolutely lovely. But the new emojis look like they were designed by a Google executive's 12-year-old daughter who just learned how to use Photoshop. Alternatively, they look like bootleg emojis you'd see on kids products at a flea market. Basically they make my pull out my eyes with a melon baller.

These designs are absolutely appalling. Open your eyes to the real feedback here. Getting front page of reddit on /r/crappydesigns and being consistently made fun of on social media for the past weeks is not a minor aversion to change, it's horrible designs receiving well deserved and informed critique. These are your customers, your user base, what are you thinking?!

These new emojis are bad and you should feel bad. Blobs were great and you go and destroy them. The animals were cute and you go destroy them.

The worst.

The new style is absolute trash. Another example of google ignoring THEIR OWN STYLE GUIDES.

Y i k e s  these new emojis look bad. Like, really really bad. I'm all for change, but this is a colossal step backwards. Unless....Google's intention is to be mercilessly ridiculed by absolutely everyone who sets eyes on the new emojis? In that case, well done!

Please, for the love of god, don't introduce these emojis. Or at least make them a voluntary option rather than a permanent replacement.

Absolutely awful. You could have redesigned them to be more consistent without turning them into nightmare fuel.

I don't like the new designs, but one of the reasons I chose Android over Apple seven years ago was choice. I will choose to install a "classic" blob emoji set once it hits the play store.

These round ones with gradients lose most of the charm of the current emoji set. Material Design has made such strong strides to a clean, minimal look, and these emoji are going back 15 years. Such is life.

so disappointed with the team right now. emoji are ugly and a huge step backwards.

Please please revise the new emoji! The old ones were so much better. I do agree there can be change aversion, but they just don't follow Android's design patterns at all. That is objective fact. Please don't give us these iOS style emojis!

Please don't make me use these new emojis. Please.

The old ones are perfectly fine. I understand the issue with "universal recognition", but that doesn't mean you have to change the art style completely. Literally compare and contrast the most popular versions of the emojis and update them - individually - as needed to still conform to the previous art style.

Why change all of them? And why change the style? It's trash.

Look, I am not a designer, I am not an artist -- hell, i'm barely even that creative. I look at these emojis, and I just think about how terrible they are. Not just the aesthetics, but the fact that the way some of them are drawn completely changes their meaning. The smiling emojis with their teeth showing have that god-awful teeth grin that looks more like a wince than a smile, some of the animals look like entirely different animals altogether (see: bunny), and of course there are the gradients in material design. Nobody likes these emojis, just because you paid someone to redo them doesn't mean you should use them.

I barely use emojis, but I have always appreciated the use of the little blobs. They had character, they were genuinely kind of cute. Again, I barely use them, but if I have to update my phone from 7.1 to 8 I will 100% root just to switch the emojis back and nothing more. If there is a legitimate reason for switching, then PLEASE tell the public.

The new emoji look terrible, amateurish, and creepy. They look like they belong on some knock-off web forum from 2004. If there was a problem with some of them communicating a different message to non-android users, then just fix those while keeping your distinctive style.

The new emoji are awful. At least ditch the gradients, it's incredibly tacky. Everyone I've ever talked to thinks the new design is a huge downgrade.

Please don't change the blobs!
The blobs are cute and give the emojis a lot of personality!
As well, the flat colours give them a cleaner look and generally look more polished
Please don't feel like you need to copy the Apple emojis, I love the Android emojis just the way they are <3

I'm a fan of the old blobs. Very unique. If they get changed, I'm gonna seriously look into a way to keep the old ones on my phone.

Please revert this, not only are they all serious downgrades, but they also do not fit in all other Google designs.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CrappyDesign/comments/6elhjc/the_new_android_emoji_set/

25,694 points (90%upvoted) on Crappy Design. 1500 comments agreeing that this is crappy design.

Just saying.

Alright, you know what? I don't even care if you revert the emoji change, I only want to know one thing – do you really think this is an improvement, and if so, why?

I think apple emojis look hideous so the idea that anyone would WANT to emulate them is the saddest thing. I understand the desire to unify the emoji sets with other platforms, but I don't believe that making them look this bad is part of that process. There had to be another way.

I don't think another google employee is going to come back in here to defend the emojis after the first guy said his piece and closed the ticket, but if you want to get some sort of insight into the decisions that produced these new emojis, the medium article they wrote on the new designs is your best bet:

https://medium.com/google-design/redesigning-android-emoji-cb22e3b51cc6

I understand that people didn't like the blobs, and by all means, turn them into circles.

BUT PLEASE KEEP THE FLAT/SMOOTH/CARTOON/PASTEL MATERIAL DESIGN OF OLD.

Remove the gradients, the outline colours. There was no need for this. They look objectively terrible. And it's not merely change aversion. Facebook changed their emojis into something good. Everyone on the internet thinks this is a step back.

Grotesque. Especially the rabbit.

I feel like the person who drew that attempt at a rabbit has never actually seen a rabbit in their life.

What rabbit? /s

I'm late to this discussion but I'd like to throw my own voice into the wind tunnel: a handful of authors for some random news sites boldly declaring that they're good without asking anyone is not representative of the majority opinion.  I think the O emojis are quite a step down from the blobs and I think the blobs with curvature to them were the best iteration of the android emojis.

Google doesn't care about blob people.

The new emoji's are straight up awful.  How in the world did this pass QA?

Hey, please don't change the emoji.

Yup, still absolutely terrible.

7.0 was so good, guess we got spoiled.

Please add the ability to choose your own emojis in O. After all, emojis are just a font, how hard can that be to implement??

Just read the newsletter. Are you fucking kidding me? A handful? You call this a fucking handful? Alright, I'm out of here. Fuck this shit, and fuck you, Google.

These are pathetically boring emojis that go against your own design principles. Please don't use them.

I will root just to not have to use these abominations. Google please reconsider this change and at least revise some of the horrible new ones. You don't need to revert back to the Blobs but these new ones are not the correct answer.

"The general public reception as well as the press reception has been positive, which has been encouraging."

Damn Google, this really affects my perception of you as a company driven by data and open to self-critique.  The public reception has been overwhelmingly negative; I hope you don't continue to describe the ongoing displeasure as "change aversion" at this point.  The new emojis aren't bad just because they use gradients, but they use them poorly, don't communicate clearly and are simply creepy.  This isn't like the backlash to Facebook's News Feed, which I'm old enough to remember well - it's not a change that, while jarring, will ultimately increase engagement with your services.  This is a poor design choice that's driven me and others to already look for ways to avoid these default options, increasing the likelihood that we'll choose other services in the future.

Individually, this may not be enough to walk away from using Android over, but it piles up... the way you tried to push Plus on us at every juncture for a time, your inability or unwillingness to fix the easily-abused YouTube reporting/content flagging system, to the YouTube redesign that allowed racists and trolls to take over the comments section, to the weird integration problems e.g. how Google Allo can't be used for text messaging, to this decision... it's disheartening.  This is really a sign to me that you've grown too large as a company to have a unified, coherent message or principles anymore.

Please *build* on the blobs style, especially in the material-like design sense.

Working towards platform consistency is great. Work with the great art already out there.

This overhaul is aesthetically awful -- and more importantly, still missing the goal of consistency badly in many cases.

I hate the new emojis. It's reminiscent of the skeuomorphism age and takes all the personality and cuteness out of the emoji. I'm all for process and creating design systems, but emojis are supposed to be expressive and fun. The way the managers took this was awful Any designer should be able to see that the gradients are overused, and the faces + bodies of the animals are downright creepy.

Please do some user research and get some feedback from a wide range of people before releasing this. Just from the comments alone you can see the visceral reaction that people had to the update.

Bad gradient.. bad design.. make it flat please

As someone else in this thread said; "but if my phone gets Android O, literally the only reason I would root it is to get rid of these hideous emojis.", I would od the exact same. The new emojis are like 2005 MSN emotes.

Clearly Google isn't listening so I feel like I have to qualify my opinion by saying I have a degree in the visdev? I'm an illustration major, design minor.

These lack a craft and sense of knowledge about the subjects at hand. They look like a high school sophomore's first week in a pirated Adobe Illustrator. They look like somebody just found out about the gradient tool and got REALLY excited about it. They look like somebody trying not that hard to hide their love for funko pop figures, yes, I'm judging you for that. They look like someone referencing somebody else's free pack of downloadable vector clip art, and I guarantee you, at their worst, those free downloads don't even look as half as bad as the android O emoji.

Who wrote that medium article? Anyone who has stepped into a community college art class knows you don't need gradients for something to be able to stand out on both a dark and light background.j Squishy things don't have gradients. Glass has gradients. Smooth plastic has gradients. Look at the back of your own Pixel phone. It's. Glass.

The animals are the worst offenders. They look stiff and the different animal heads pasted onto the same body really drives that home.

Android Oreo is here already but still, I feel like if Google didn't bother listening to people before the official release, why should I continue holding my tongue? Might as well air my grievances.

@ Google: hire a designer-illustrator oh my god

No one will be happy to put "I replaced Android's emoji with designs violating Google's style guide" on their resume.

I've attached a picture of a rabbit. Have your emoji artist take a look, because I suspect they've never actually seen a real bun.

Guess the only way to get the blobs back is to root... I hope Google adds support for emoji packs, if you don't want to "force people to use outdated and mismatching emojis" at least give us options.

Please please change back these horrid emoji's to the cute blobs. Don't be like apple, don't be shitty.

I don't even use a google phone and I think these new emoji's are horrid. No personality in them, just soulless apple knockoff emojis.

Bring back the blobs. This is one of the biggest mistakes in the history of mankind that can actually be quite simply undone. Just friggin' do it Google.

Bring back the blobs. I curse you google, you are ruinning us.

I hate the new emojis. They are a complete downgrade. They lack readability and some look like things they were not intended too (buck tooth bunny having bloody fangs). Please bring back the blobs

I bought a Samsung phone instead a Google phone because of these emojis!

These new emoji are not even designed by google, they're a plagiarized and photoshopped version of  apple's emoji.

Please bring back the blobs!!

Bring back the blobs, the new emojis are horrible. Gradients, outlines... feels like the MSN emojis are back from the dead.

After using blob emojis with systems that have "normal" emojis, I'm not a fan of the blobs as much anymore. However, the gradients are still horrible.