Which heart will you send this Valentine's Day?

This week, romantics around the world are ramping up their use of emojis. Messages are flying in every direction, and hearts are everywhere. But before you hit “send,” it might be worth checking—do you really know the emojis you’re sending?

According to data from Emojipedia, there are more than 40 different heart emojis—and each carries its own nuance. There is the broken heart, the mending heart, the sparkling heart, and even the black heart, which is often used to express deep affection.

And that is only a small part of the story.

Today, there are nearly 4.000 different emojis, including variations for gender and skin tone. It is estimated that more than 10 billion emojis are sent worldwide every day. It all began in 1999 with just 176 small icons, which are now on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The simple red “heart of love” remains one of the most beloved symbols; it even won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2022 World Emoji Day Awards. However, time brings new favorites. In 2025, the “face with bags under eyes” and the “melting face” captured the spotlight—emojis that seem to perfectly describe the rhythm of modern life.

What do emojis have to do with standards?

Believe it or not, more than you might think.

Emojis would not exist without the standards that define them. The codes and rules for displaying them are standardized by the Unicode Consortium—a non-profit organization that decides which new symbols will become part of global digital communication. Their mission is simple yet powerful: to enable everyone in the world to use their own language on phones and computers.

The Unicode Standard is closely linked to ISO/IEC 10646, the international standard that defines the Universal Coded Character Set (UCS). This standard represents the technical foundation of all digital literacy—including emojis. It ensures that every character, letter, symbol, or emoji has its own unique place in the digital world.

Thanks to alignment with the work of the Unicode Consortium, it is guaranteed that the same character has the same meaning and code across all devices, platforms, and countries.

What does the future hold?

Emojis are constantly evolving. New proposals arrive every year, and some ideas come from the general public. This year’s proposals include “finger heart” gestures (left and right), a “splat” face, a monarch butterfly, and a pickle. The final list of new emojis will be approved in September of this year.

So, the next time you send a heart or any other emoji, know that behind that tiny symbol stands a precisely defined global character architecture that allows the whole world to understand you.

One thing is certain—behind every small symbol lies a collective decision and consensus. In a word: a standard.