July 2025 Newsletter and Table of Contents

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Emoji Use Guidelines
Image by John Hain from Pixabay Emojis can be a valuable tool for digital communication, adding color, tone, and visual interest. In TeLS, we've researched best practices fo…

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a heart made up of many little emojis
Image by John Hain from Pixabay

Emojis can be a valuable tool for digital communication, adding color, tone, and visual interest. In TeLS, we've researched best practices for using emojis in our Canvas courses. Instead of writing it all up, we thought sharing the information as a podcast would be fun. Listen for a deeper dive into the “why”, or read on for a summary.

Guidelines

  1. Convey your core message with text. Never use an emoji in place of a word. 
  2. Similarly, keep words whole. Avoid using emojis in the middle of a word. For example, don't replace the letter S with a 💲.
  3. Since emojis can be misinterpreted, use words to clearly state a feeling. Emojis should not be used as the only way to express a feeling, but you can use them in addition to clear words.
  4. Stick to popular and widely recognized emojis. 
  5. Place emojis at the end of a sentence or phrase.
  6. Use emojis strategically and in moderation. Avoid repetition of a single emoji and using multiple emojis together. 

Technical Considerations

  • Insert real emojis instead of “emoticons,” which are made with punctuation marks. For example, use 😀 instead of :-).
  • Select emojis that work well against both light and dark backgrounds. 
  • Use numbered and bulleted lists instead of replacing the numbers or bullets with emojis.
  • Remember that emojis display differently on different devices and in different apps. 
  • Screenreaders will read the emoji name aloud, so make sure your intended meaning stays intact if the cute picture is replaced with those words.

If you're in doubt, you can check the unicode.org full emoji list or search emojipedia.org to see how emojis display on different devices and to check the short name that is read aloud by assistive technology.

Empathy Bonus

If you've made it this far, listen to this example of a screen reader encountering an overuse of emoji:

Reference Links

Location: Yavapai College

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