(Note: I made 4 emojis because the marijuana leaf was one I disputed including, despite its prevalence as a common icon for Colorado. This has lead me to a more in-depth conversation on how cultures and regions can at times be identified by taboo images in other regions. Where the leaf might offend some, it is abundantly used in Colorado merchandising and advertisements. The usage of the leaf calls into question the dispute of universalizing images that have legal conflict in other regions, or reference activities that are not appropriate for all audiences.)

The Colorado flag –  The Colorado flag is adorned proudly and purchased by both visiting tourists and native Coloradans. I simplified it down to the yellow circle and red C because the center of the flag is the least amount of the flag needed for it to be identified as the Colorado flag. The red C and yellow dot further break out of the flag medium and now act as one of the most central icons for Colorado.

The Marijuana Leaf –  As Colorado was one of the first states to legalize recreational marijuana usage, the state is now abundant with dispensaries and marijuana-embellished merchandising. The legalization has led to a high increase in tourism as well as marijuana taxation becoming a significant industry in Colorado’s state economy. 

The DIA Blue Mustang – Most visitors flying into the Denver International Airport comment on the blue mustang statue because it has these bright red  glowing eyes that pierce through the night. Though many tourists have distaste for its unsettling stature, there is a lot of hometown pride for having this horse outside of the airport because of its polarizing effect on people entering Colorado.

Red Rocks Concert Venue – As one of the most famous natural outdoor venues in both Colorado and the nation, it is expected that every native Coloradan make annual visits to Red Rocks to see concerts or attend festivals and workout events. The giant red rock in my emoji is the iconic structure that surrounds the venue. 

Initial Reactions:

For one of my longtime best friends back in Colorado, I casually messaged “Man I miss Colorado”, and then inserted the emojis. The immediate response was: “are these emojis you made?”. I followed up the response by asking what would be changed/added to the Colorado emojis. She suggested:

I next messaged my sister, this time just sending the emojis and fully disclosing the project. She suggested I make an emoji for the flatiron rocks in Boulder, and add the seating rows to the Red Rocks emoji. 

The Red Rocks Amphitheater and the Flatirons Boulder Rocks:

From this feedback, I made round 2: 

Second Followup: My sister commented that the leaf was a little too simplified, but the changes for the Red Rocks landscape and flatirons formation were appropriate and easily recognizable. My friend further commented that the green “wasn’t quite right” for the flatirons landscape; she mentioned that the colors for the landscapes were too literal, and would need to be more saturated or exaggerated like the sunset emojis in the current keyboard. The red rock needed to return to being an actual red rock, and the flatirons needed to be a brighter yellow color, with the sky more faded to allow the structures to take over. Despite this, both my friend and sister responded very positively to the final emojis, and as concepts they seemed to properly embody Colorado.

In my personal reflections, I find that the blue horse is likely the least recognizable Colorado icon for people outside of the state, as it is much more of an inside joke amongst locals. By contrast, the two landscape emojis I created could be repurposed into either a mountain landscape or an outdoor concert venue (much like the lotus position representing peace and calmness in addition to its more literal definition of meditation and yoga).

The leaf on its own is definitely far too controversial to be included into a universal keyboard, though this also calls into question the emoji representations for alcohol, the middle finger, the syringe, the pill, the bomb and other more controversial emojis. I find it interesting how, on the delicate scale for universality, marijuana is an example of a very well known substance that, due to its illegality in most parts of the world, cannot be implemented in a keyboard. Unicode also has to keep in mind that the earliest age for people to have phones and send emojis is younger than ever; all emojis, by this standard, must be appropriate for all audiences, including the elementary school students with iPads in school.

If Colorado were to have its own strict set of emojis, I imagine that the cigarette would be removed, as cigarettes are far more controversial and frowned upon than marijuana consumption. My sister mentioned that she could see herself using the landscape emojis as a way of encouraging a trip to visit one of the locations, as a way of heading into downtown Boulder or going to a concert. The horse, though iconic for people in Colorado, currently does not hold much functionality in conversation unless the conversation was perhaps specific to the DIA. The Colorado flag is likely the one icon that could take up its own definition beyond what it is; in reference to Colorado lingo, or any Colorado inside jokes, the icon would pose very well in messaging to substitute the word Colorado. 

Method: I used Illustrator for the entire process. For the landscape emojis, I googled Colorado Red Rocks and Colorado Flatirons, seeking out the clearest image that could still be identifiable even as a small square. I adjusted the saturation and contrast of the colors in the images, then inserted them into Illustrator and image traced. I further took the frame from the current landscape emojis to create a final product.

For the Colorado flag and marijuana leaf, I googled both and ended up with already simplified pngs. I tried choosing a green that wasn’t so neon and glib, more so trying to find a subtle, natural green (one that could blend in with the rest of the emojis on the keyboard).

The Blue Mustang was also created by finding a perfect portrait of the horse in an image, image tracing it in Illustrator, and editing the colors to make the horse a brighter blue. I then added the red eye as the final iconic detail for its recognition (though admittedly this detail is not visible in such a small platform).

In terms of sending the icons, I chose Facebook messenger, as it is the platform where I send the most emojis. I screenshot the Facebook emojis to get a sense of their sizing (about 66 by 68 pixels in size), then modified mine down to the same size so that when they sent, they appeared as small icons.