As designers we have the ability to envision an end-to-end experience. We can identify the pieces of the puzzle and connect the people that are needed to make this vision a reality. This is a unique role designers can play. The story of 722 emoji is an example of a project with little UI to design. The only way to make the experience a reality was to connect the right people.
Emoji are iconic representations that are heavily used in East Asia. Adding emoji to the Window 8 applications presented a huge opportunity to enrich social interactions worldwide. This plan encountered a lot of resistance. It was not clear how to send emoji, or what the visual style should be. Various geo-politically sensitive issues came up. And did we need that many emoji in the first place? At the height of the confusion, I organized a summit. This was the starting point for people to begin facing the same direction. Eventually we made it happen, and almost all of the icons were added. How this happened is what this talk is about.
