1,447 emoji? We'll do it live

One of the things you get to do after being laid off is a lot of reflection, but also to revisit all the old projects you used to contribute to.

One of them was Pidgin: “the universal chat client”.

I designed the original emoticon set for version 2 and helped redesign the user interface when the project was renamed from Gaim after a legal dispute.

Meanwhile, after a huge rewrite, Pidgin 3 is making progress towards a first release and I’ve been helping out here and there with a new app icon and some status symbols for the development releases.

Emoji

I’ve been meaning to start live streaming my weekly app icon work to share a look in the kitchen of the icon design process, but once I gathered the courage to start a test run, the experience wasn’t amazing.

I need something I can return to consistently without needing a new plan every time…

So why not create a base set of 1,447 emoji for Pidgin in GNOME-style exclusively live on stream? What could go wrong?

Here’s the design file to keep me accountable, so I can’t sneakily make progress offline!

Twitch

I’ll be chipping away at it a few times a week. Follow me on Twitch to get a notification when I go live. We’ll grab a cup of tea, put on some music, and get through the winter.

If you want to support my design work for Free and Open Source projects, I’m always looking for more sponsors.

Or a “sub” as the kids call it these days.