Let’s Get Visual: It’s World Emoji Day

Jul 15, 2021 | Articles, Litmos and Learning Industry News

Last updated: July 17, 2025

If there’s one thing most L&D people can agree upon, it’s that nothing beats great visuals. We worship our instructional designers, graphic designers, video producers, etc. Their talents can never be lauded too loudly. Where would any workplace learning program without the people who make the content visually captivating?

🔍 What is World Emoji Day?

World Emoji Day didn’t come about arbitrarily. The reason that it falls on July 17th is actually a fun, little, techy fact:

Apple’s calendar emoji shows July 17 to mimic their Calendar (iCal) app which shows the same date, which was in turn was chosen because iCal was introduced at the Macworld Expo on July 17, 2002.

Now, most of the Calendar icons across platforms (Google, Twitter, etc.) feature that date, as well. It’s become a bit of an inside joke.

There are many reasons to celebrate the emoji. In this article, we’ll dive into how emojis can add emotional resonance to eLearning, and make it training feel more fun and accessible to learners. Emojis are a small way to add humor and fun to your training. Let’s explore why:

🧠 Why emojis work: the neuroscience of visuals + emotion

Let’s face it, emojis are everywhere, and it’s not just because they’re fun (although, let’s be real, they are!). The real magic happens in our brains, where visuals are processed way faster than text. Emojis tap into this by adding an emotional boost to our messages, making them more engaging and helping us get our point across. That’s why imagery is key to engaging courses and other learning content. Can you think of anyone who’d prefer to click through a course made entirely of text bullet points or worse, a wall of text without any visuals?

There’s a power to graphical expression that can’t be put into words. Maybe this is why we all love emojis. One needs no design talent to share in the joy of using images to capture a feeling. And feeling is the apt word because that’s what’s at the heart ❤️ of emojis: emotion.

When you want to message a colleague: “I’m totally rolling my eyes right now” in the middle of a meeting or “Wow, that’s a smokin’ hot idea,” but writing it seems really cheesy – thank goodness for emojis! With a click we can show how we feel. In some cases, they can communicate more succinctly than language and have been described as the hieroglyphics of our time. A picture still says a thousand words – even a silly, little cartoon picture.

📋 Emoji best practices for eLearning and L&D

So, you want to use emojis in your training modules without going overboard? Here’s the trick: keep it simple, silly!

  1. Use emojis sparingly – a few well-placed emojis can make a bigger impact than a whole string of them.
  2. Make sure emojis are relevant – to reinforce the subject matter of your courses, find an emoji that learners can easily recognize as being relevant to the materials they’re reviewing.
  3. Consider your audience – you might want to dial it back for more formal emails or product documentation, for example…

How does this all circle back to learning? Beyond the importance of visuals for reinforcing learning, emojis can also be a useful tool for learners to express themselves and for you to create more visually interesting content.

Here are some simple ideas in honor of World Emoji Day:

  • Allow emojis to be used in feedback / surveys on content
  • In social eLearning settings, let learners use them with each other
  • Use emojis to section off content or support a module title
  • Add visual accent to bullets to reinforce each point

🎊 Litmos Celebrates World Emoji Day with New Lenny Emojis

In honor of World Emoji Day on July 17, the Litmos design team has released emoji-feed versions of our very own mascot, Lenny Somali. Check out the many emotive faces of Lenny on our World Emoji Day LinkedIn post, or scroll through the carousel below:

We’d be happy to hear if you’re using emojis in your training and how so. Please share your best practices if you have them, punctuated by an emoji, of course.,,