Revamping MeiYou Emoji Design: User‑Driven Insights and Visual Guidelines

In 2020, emojis became essential for fast emotional communication, and MeiYou recognized that high‑quality emoji design can boost user activity and brand identity, especially among its increasingly young female audience.

Since 2014, MeiYou’s user‑experience team released a default emoji set that was well received, but a comprehensive upgrade was needed to meet evolving visual and functional expectations.

3.1 MeiYou User Preferences

Data from the app shows emojis are used 10% in articles, 82% in comments/replies, and 8% in diaries and chats. Users, particularly women, love emojis (76% usage) for quick emotional expression and to convey attitudes like “wow” or “team”.

Research identified three core user‑desired qualities: fun, efficiency, and resonance.

3.2 Mainstream Design Trends

Popular emoji styles fall into three categories: light‑material (semi‑realistic), outline (stroke‑based), and flat (minimalist). Yellow skin tone remains dominant due to long‑standing emoji conventions.

MeiYou’s original emojis use a water‑drop shape reflecting its menstrual‑tracking origins; while recognizable, the shape needed clearer definition and simplification.

4.1 Shape Optimization

The new shape is built from a basic circle using golden‑ratio proportions, replacing irregular outlines with a clean, elegant contour.

4.2 Style Exploration and Confirmation

Three styles—light‑material, outline, and flat—were tested with young female users. The light‑material style proved most appealing and was selected as the default visual language.

4.3 Fun, Efficiency, Resonance

Fun : Introduce richer visual elements and trending internet emojis to satisfy personal expression.

Efficiency : Provide quick‑reaction emojis for comment replies, enabling concise attitude expression.

Resonance : Add context‑specific emojis (e.g., “period”, “good pregnancy”) that align with the community’s emotional topics.

4.4 Design Specification for Consistency

Adopt a grid system to align facial features, hands, objects, and text, ensuring uniform visual weight across all emojis.

Componentize facial elements by usage type, standardize line thickness, and create reusable assets to improve designer efficiency and maintain visual consistency.

The final deliverable includes a complete emoji design system that balances MeiYou’s brand identity with modern, user‑centric visual trends.