From magazine covers to small screens, media producers are striving to meet public demand for a level of diversity that reflects reality – but are their efforts enough? Canvas8 spoke to eight Britons about whether they believe mainstream media fairly represents all parts of society.

Despite there being 2,823 emojis in the Unicode Standard, the thirst for ways to express emotion digitally appears insatiable. Even more so now, with the creation of Emoji Builder, a tool allowing users to design their own emojis, complete with a randomising function.

Emojis have become ubiquitous in digital communications, but their use in marketing campaigns hasn’t always been successful. Canvas8 spoke to Dr. Sara Kim, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong, to learn how people interpret and react to brands that use these symbols.

Emoji are shared between cultures – making cultural representation all the more crucial. The Unicode Consortium's announcement of a maté emoji was met with celebration in Argentina – illustrating how the pictograms have come to symbolise far more than their literal meanings.