Ever scrolled through your emoji picker and wondered why some things are just... stark? I’m talking about the white and black emojis. Not the skin tones—that’s a whole different conversation—but the literal, monochromatic shapes. The heavy black heart. The hollow white square. The weirdly specific chess pieces.
Most people ignore them. They go for the bright yellow smiley or the red heart. But these colorless icons are actually the backbone of how your phone communicates. They aren't just "missing color." They are deliberate choices made by a group of people at the Unicode Consortium who decide how we all talk online.
Honestly, it’s a bit of a rabbit hole. You start looking for a simple circle and realize there are about twelve different versions of it, ranging from a tiny dot to a massive "heavy" black circle. It feels redundant until you realize how these symbols are used in professional coding, UI design, and even secret digital shorthand.
The Technical Reality of the Monochrome Set
Unicode is the universal standard. It’s the reason why, when I send you a "A," you see an "A" and not a string of gibberish. Emojis work the same way. But before everything was high-definition and colorful, we had "dingbats."
Think back to old Microsoft Word fonts like Wingdings. That’s where a lot of these white and black emojis came from. When the Unicode Consortium started standardizing emojis in the late 2000s, they had to pull in existing symbol sets to make sure old documents still worked. This is why we have the "Black Sun with Rays" (☀️) and the "White Sun with Rays."
Wait, why are they called "white" and "black" when they might look blue or yellow on your screen?
In the world of typography, "black" doesn't mean the color #000000. It means "filled in." Conversely, "white" means "hollow" or "outlined." So, when you see a "White Heart," you’re looking at an icon that was originally designed to be a simple outline. On an iPhone, it might look like a pearly, 3D shape, but the underlying code is still "White Heart." It’s kinda confusing, but that’s the legacy of print design sticking its nose into our digital pockets.
Why Do We Still Use Them?
You might think these are useless. You'd be wrong.
Designers love these things. If you’re building a clean, minimalist interface for a banking app, a bright red "angry face" emoji looks unprofessional. But a small, black square or a white circle? That’s a bullet point. That’s a UI element.
Then there’s the accessibility factor. High-contrast symbols are much easier for people with visual impairments to distinguish. A solid black block vs. a hollow white block is a very clear binary. Color-blind users might struggle to tell a red heart from a green one, but they will never confuse a filled-in "Black Heart" with a hollow "White Heart" (depending on how the specific platform renders the outline).
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Chess, Suits, and Symbols
Look at the gaming category. We have an entire set of white and black emojis for chess.
- ♔ White Chess King
- ♚ Black Chess King
- ♘ White Chess Knight
- ♞ Black Chess Knight
If these were "colorful," they wouldn’t look like a chess set. They would look like toys. By keeping them monochromatic, Unicode allows developers to create text-based games that actually look like the physical board games they represent.
The same applies to card suits. The black spade and the red heart are standard, but in the underlying Unicode data, there are "white" (hollow) versions of these too. They exist for printers and developers who need to save ink or maintain a specific aesthetic.
The Aesthetic Shift: From Function to Fashion
Around 2019 and 2020, there was a massive shift in how "normal" people used these icons. It stopped being about technical standards and started being about "the vibe."
The white heart (🤍) and black heart (🖤) became some of the most used emojis globally. Why? Because the red heart is loud. It’s intense. It’s "I love you" or "Happy Valentine’s Day." The white heart is "clean." It’s aesthetic. It fits the "minimalist influencer" look that took over Instagram and TikTok.
People started using the black heart to show a sense of irony, or "dark academia," or just to match a moody photo of a rainy window. It’s fashion. We’ve reached a point where the color (or lack thereof) of the emoji is more important than the symbol itself. A "white circle" isn't a circle anymore; it’s a decorative spacer for a curated "Link in Bio" section.
The "Hidden" Emojis You Didn't Know Were Related
There is a whole section of the emoji keyboard that looks like math homework.
The black small square, the white medium square, the black large square.
These were never meant for texting. They were added to the Unicode Standard (specifically in the Geometric Shapes block) for technical documentation. If a manual tells you to "press the square button," they need a symbol for that.
But leave it to the internet to turn them into something else. In the early days of Twitter, before we had fancy polls, people used these squares to create "progress bars" manually. You’ve probably seen them: a string of eight black squares followed by two white squares to show that a year is 80% over. It’s a creative hack using boring technical symbols.
Variations Across Platforms
Here is where things get messy.
If you send a black heart from a Samsung phone to an iPhone, it generally looks the same. But some of the more obscure white and black emojis—like the "White Medium Star"—can look wildly different.
Google’s Android team often adds a little "pop" to their designs. Apple tends to go for a glossy, realistic look. Microsoft (on Windows) often keeps them as flat, literal black-and-white silhouettes.
This creates a "translation" problem. You might send a "white" symbol thinking it looks elegant and ethereal, but your friend on an old PC sees a clunky, jagged outline that looks like a 1995 Word document.
A Note on Skin Tones
It is worth clarifying one thing. People often search for white and black emojis when they actually mean "emojis with different skin tones."
Technically, those aren't separate emojis. They use something called a "Modifier." When you select a "thumbs up" and pick a skin tone, your phone is actually sending two pieces of code: the "thumbs up" code and a "Fitzpatrick Scale" modifier. The phone then glues them together to show one image.
The black and white emojis we’re talking about here (the squares, the hearts, the circles) are "atomic." They are their own unique characters. They don't change. A black square is always a black square.
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The Future of the Monochrome Palette
Is Unicode going to add more? Probably not many.
The trend lately has been toward hyper-specific colorful icons. We have "melting face," "saluting face," and "beans." Yes, beans.
But the white and black emojis will always be the "safe" choice for developers. They are predictable. They don't clash with a dark mode or a light mode interface. They are the "utility players" of the digital world.
Think about "Dark Mode." When you flip your phone to a dark theme, your colorful emojis stay colorful. But a lot of system-level black and white emojis actually invert. A "white" outline might become more prominent, or a "black" fill might get a subtle glow. This ensures that the "Black Square" doesn't just disappear into a black background. That’s some high-level engineering for a tiny little box.
How to Use Them Effectively
If you want to use these symbols like a pro—not just like someone who accidentally clicked the wrong tab—there are a few ways to level up your digital communication.
- For Organization: Use the white circle (⚪) and black circle (⚫) instead of standard bullet points in your social media bios. It breaks up the text and makes it look "designed" rather than typed.
- For Visual Progress: Use the squares to create custom loaders in your notes or checklists.
- For Tone Control: If a red heart feels too "heavy" for a new acquaintance, use the white heart. It’s friendly but keeps a distance. It’s the "chill" version of affection.
- For Data Viz: If you're sending a quick "poll" in a group chat, use the black and white squares as a scale.
The world of emojis is getting more crowded every year. We have thousands of options now. Yet, we keep coming back to these simple, monochromatic shapes. They are clean. They are clear. They don't try too hard.
Actionable Steps for Using Symbolic Emojis
If you're looking to clean up your digital presence, start by auditing your most-used icons.
Swap out the chaotic, colorful icons in your professional "Linktree" or bio for a consistent set of black or white geometric emojis. This creates a cohesive brand identity without needing a graphic designer.
When you're coding or working in Markdown (like this article!), use the specific Unicode characters for "black" and "white" shapes to ensure they render correctly across different text editors.
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Finally, check how your favorite monochromatic emojis look on both "Light Mode" and "Dark Mode." A symbol that looks great on your screen might be invisible to someone else. Always test your "aesthetic" choices before you go live.
These symbols aren't just leftovers from the 90s. They are the most versatile tools in your digital vocabulary. Use them.