Finland becomes first country to launch own emoji

Petra Theman from the Finnish Foreign Ministry says the emojis will be released as a way to promote the country’s image overseas and are based on themes associated with Finland.

The Nordic country’s official tourism website, ThisisFINLAND, says it’s the first nation in the world to develop its own emoji.

Finland has rolled out images of a couple in a sauna, an old Nokia phone and a heavy metal music fan as part of a set of national emojis, or symbols, to be used in digital communication. “One example is disarming honesty”, Theman added.

The collection of 30 emojis can be downloaded from app stores at no cost on December 1, which is the day that the Ministry’s virtual Christmas calendar is launched. That’s right, metal heads are now pretty much one of the mascots of Finland, fitting considering the county’s wealth of heavy music. “There’s a small headbanger living inside of each Finn”. Sauna is as Finnish as it gets.

The sauna speaks for itself, as does the Finnish-designed Nokia 3310, which was nearly ubiquitous in the early 2000s.

The device is one of the most successful mobile phones of all time, having sold 126 million units worldwide, and is fondly remembered for its durability as well as its battery life. A few of the emotions are represented by an internationally known Finn.

The emojis are drawn by art director Bruno Leo Ribeiro.