The Language of EMOJIS
In The Language of Emojis, students discover how pictures, symbols, colors, and facial expressions can communicate ideas and emotions, even without using words! Students explore emojis as a form of visual language and learn how graphic designers use simple visual elements to help people understand a message quickly.
Through fun, age-appropriate design activities, students will practice observing, interpreting, and creating visual messages. They will examine how an emoji’s expression, color, shape, and context can change the meaning of a message, then use their own creativity to design emojis that communicate specific feelings, ideas, or actions.
This lesson connects graphic design, communication, literacy, technology, and social-emotional learning, helping students understand that design is more than making something look good, it is a way to communicate with others.
Students Will:
Identify emojis as a form of visual communication
Explore how images can communicate without words
Identify emotions and messages communicated through visual elements
Learn how color, shape, facial expression, and symbols influence meaning
Practice interpreting visual messages
Create their own emoji designs with a clear purpose
Explain the meaning behind their design choices
Develop creative thinking and visual problem-solving skills
Big Idea
Designers use pictures, symbols, colors, and shapes to communicate ideas and feelings.
Essential Question
How can we communicate a message without using words?
Design Challenge
Can you create an emoji that clearly communicates a feeling, idea, or message without using any words?
Cross-Curricular Connections
Reading & Literacy: Interpreting visual information and connecting images to meaning
Math: Exploring shapes, patterns, symmetry, size, and proportion Technology: Understanding digital symbols and visual communication
Communication: Sending and interpreting messages through visuals
Problem-Solving: Making design choices that help a message become clear
SEL: Identifying and communicating emotions in healthy ways
Student Outcome
By the end of the lesson, students will have created an original emoji and will be able to explain what it communicates, who it is for, and how their design choices help others understand the message.
