text: We heard you. We made some mistakes. And we are fixing them. 
   
   The news of 157 new emojis in 2018 came earlier this month and if it proved one thing: people are passionate about how their emojis look. 
   
   Each year Emojipedia creates sample images for the new emoji release that display how these new characters might look when they hit phones later in the year. 
   
   Today we're updating three of these designs to address public feedback: Skateboard, DNA, and Lobster. 
   
   Skateboard 
   
   Skateboarding legend (and technology enthusiast) Tony Hawk loves that there is a new skateboard emoji, but wasn't impressed with our design. Speaking to New York Magazine, Tony noted we had plenty of room for improvement: 
   
   “Firstly, the shape, and the top of it. The way the grip tape is cut, it’s called a die cut — doing grip tape, then leaving a big blank spot in the middle. It just is very much a mid-’80s skateboard, but at a beginner level, and definitely not representative of modern skateboarding” 
   
   So we invited him on board as an emoji advisor to help us get it right: 
   
   Hoping to help bring the skateboard emoji closer to 2018 than 1985... https://t.co/TIWWbGk1i2 — Tony Hawk (@tonyhawk) February 8, 2018 
   
   Above: Tony Hawk comes in to rescue the skateboard emoji. 
   
   After a helpful DM exchange we settled on a new design to address all of these issues. No more grip tape, no gap in the middle, hopefully more 2018 than 1985: 
   
   
   
   Above: The old skateboard emoji design (left) has been replaced by a newer design (right). 
   
   This new design is based on Tony's own skateboard, with some minor tweaks to ensure this still works at emoji sizes. 
   
   When you're given source material like this, it might as well be used to its fullest potential. 
   
   
   
   Above: Tony Hawk's own skateboard (left) was the inspiration behind the updated skateboard emoji design (right). 
   
   DNA Double Helix 
   
   Apparently we designed our DNA Double Helix to be left handed. This is, I gather, is the wrong way to show it. 
   
   So here it is the correct way, shown as a right-handed double-helix: 
   
   
   
   Above: The previous (left-handed) DNA emoji (left) has been replaced with a right-handed DNA emoji (right) on Emojipedia. 
   
   Lobster 
   
   Senator Angus King from Maine has certainly been vocal about his love of the lobster emoji, but was kind enough to spare us the indignity of pointing out that we left off two legs. 
   
   Great news for Maine - we're getting a lobster emoji!!! Thanks to @unicode for recognizing the impact of this critical crustacean, in Maine and across the country. 
   
   
   
   Yours truly, 
   
   
   
   Senator 🐮👑 — Senator Angus King (@SenAngusKing) February 7, 2018 
   
   Above: An appreciative US Sentaor appreciates the lobster, with or without the correct number of legs. 
   
   Reports showed that our lobster emoji is anatomically inaccurate due to the fact that it's missing a pair of legs. 
   
   We've now updated the design, and the correct number of legs has been restored. 
   
   Portland Maine's Press Herald goes on to describe the tail as “grossly malformed” but, well, at emoji-sizes we think the correction of the legs is enough to get this one over the line. 
   
   Hearts 
   
   One of the new emoji approvals for 2018 is a Unicode character called Smiling Face With Smiling Eyes and Three Hearts which we chose to display with four hearts. 
   
   Why? To us, it looked better. As with any emoji design, while Unicode sets the names of new emojis, it's up to vendors to decide how to implement them. Take the 🤗 hugging face which looks like jazz hands on so many platforms as an example. 
   
   Alright @Emojipedia someone forgot how to count 🤣 pic.twitter.com/EGWmIOEP3h — noah fence (@mattballinger9) February 7, 2018 
   
   Above: Many people pointed out that our face has four hearts, contrary to the name. 
   
   The origin of this emoji is from Facebook's “in love” face which can be applied to status updates. We felt that the sentiment could be expressed with any number of hearts. 
   
   
   
   Above: Facebook's “in love face” has three hearts, but ours has four. 
   
   This one we're going to leave as it is. The average user isn't too concerned with the name of an emoji when using it, but mostly cares how it looks on their phone and others. 
   
   Release 
   
   Emojis approved as part of Emoji 11.0 will come to most major operating systems in the second half of 2018. Our latest designs have been released as part of Emojipedia 11.1 and now also appear on the latest Unicode emoji charts. 
   
   As with all emojis, each vendor will create their own designs when it comes time to implement and these may or may not resemble sample images used at this time. ||||| AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — After an outcry, the organization that controls the release of emojis has added two more legs to the forthcoming lobster emoji to make it correct. 
   
   The Portland Press Herald reports soon after the Unicode Consortium released proposed images of 157 new emojis to be made available this year, Maine residents took umbrage at the lobster emoji's eight legs instead of the correct 10. 
   
   Emojipedia Chief Emoji Officer Jeremy Burge wrote Monday the consortium had heard people's complaints and is releasing updated designs for the lobster emoji, alongside updates for a skateboard and DNA emoji. 
   
   The lobster emoji is expected to be available later this year. 
   
   ___ 
   
   Information from: Portland Press Herald, http://www.pressherald.com ||||| Score one for advocates of anatomically correct emojis. 
   
   Responding to outrage from lobster leg aficionados and the Accuracy in Emojis movement (OK, not really), the organization that decides which digital images can dress up the world’s emails, texts and tweets has literally given its new lobster emoji two more legs to stand on. 
   
   Soon after the Unicode Consortium released proposed images of the 157 new emojis expected to be available in 2018, some folks noticed the little red lobster came up a bit short. Lobsters have 10 legs – including their tasty claws – but the proposed emoji showed only eight legs plus a tail that appeared somewhat malformed. 
   
   While a common mistake even among businesses that should arguably know better (ahem, Red Lobster), an eight-legged lobster even in digital cartoonish form didn’t sit well with some people. 
   
   “The #lobsteremoji is happening! Hopefully the final version will have the right number of legs,” tweeted the folks from Rockland’s annual Maine Lobster Festival on Feb. 12 above a picture of an anatomically correct, 10-legged version. 
   
   Well, the reference site that creates emoji images took note. 
   
   “We heard you. We made some mistakes. And we are fixing them,” Jeremy Burge, chief emoji officer at Emojipedia, wrote in a blog post Monday unveiling changes to the digital icons for lobster, skateboards and DNA. Emojipedia designs the sample images for emojis, which are then displayed by the Unicode Consortium. 
   
   The new proposed emoji has two more legs just behind the cartoon crustacean’s carapace as well as a slightly tweaked tail. 
   
   In an email, Burge noted that Emojipedia’s lobster emoji is just a “sample image” of what could eventually be available. The companies that make the emojis available to users, such as Apple and Adobe, could come up with their own versions. 
   
   “I have to say that I’m a bit embarrassed we didn’t get the leg count right the first time, but I’m happy it was brought to our attention so quickly!” Burge wrote. “I hope to visit Maine one day and will be sure to make liberal use of the lobster emoji when I do.” 
   
   Of course, Mainers and lobster lovers weren’t the only ones to critique the accuracy of the new emojis. Emojipedia also “fixed” the DNA emoji to show that the double-helix that carries genetic data twists to the right, not to the left as originally proposed. And Burge wrote in his blog post that skateboarding legend Tony Hawk was brought in as an “emoji advisor” to inform Emojipedia’s second attempt at a skateboard after Hawk pointed out a few foibles in the original. 
   
   U.S. Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who pushed hard for an emoji honoring the state’s $500 million commercial lobster fishery, was pleased with the revisions. 
   
   “Senator King knows that many around the world were rightly steamed by the exclusion of two legs from the original design, and is grateful that Emojipedia took quick action to ensure that Maine’s delicious decapod will be accurately represented when it crawls onto phones in the coming months,” King spokesman John Faherty said in a statement. 
   
   The updated lobster emoji is expected to be available later this year – hopefully in time for Maine tourists to spice up their tweets, snaps and Facebook posts about chowing down on the real thing. 
   
   Kevin Miller can be contacted at 791-6312 or at: 
   
   [email protected] 
   
   Twitter: KevinMillerPPH 
   
   ____________________ 
   
   CORRECTION: This story was updated at 1:56 p.m. on Feb. 20, 2018, to say that Emojipedia designs the sample emojis, which are then displayed by the Unicode Consortium. 
   
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target: – After an outcry, the organization that controls the release of emojis has added two more legs to the forthcoming lobster emoji to make it correct. The Portland Press Herald reports that soon after the Unicode Consortium released proposed images of 157 new emojis, Maine residents took umbrage at the lobster emoji's eight legs instead of the correct 10. Emojipedia Chief Emoji Officer Jeremy Burge wrote in a blog post Monday that the consortium had heard people's complaints and is releasing updated designs for the lobster emoji, alongside updates for a skateboard and DNA emoji. (The post has before and after images.) The lobster emoji is expected to be available later this year, per the AP.