How Google's Noto 3D Emoji came to life

Credit: Google Published Sep 17, 2026, 5:22 PM EDT Timi is the news and deals reporter for Android Police, who has been reporting on technology since 2008. He has worked in tech retail and also the IT space, providing hardware and software support, which gives him a unique perspective on the tech that he covers. This allows him to effectively break down complex subjects into easy-to-read pieces that even casual readers can enjoy. Before joining Android Police, he was a news writer for XDA, where he eventually transitioned to covering deals. He also worked as an editor and reporter for Neowin, where he covered news and attended major tech events like CES. He also reviewed phones, tablets, PC products, and other devices. In addition, he also created video content for the Neowin YouTube channel. Sign in to your Android Police account Google first announced its plans for its Noto 3D emoji collection back in May, but didn't really give us a deep dive into what to expect. Luckily, the brand has now dropped a post showing what it took to take our favorite, popular emoji that we've all gotten familiar with to another plane. It's not easy As you might expect, it's not an easy task to take something everyone knows and change it. There's a fine line to walk, and Google understood that assignment. It didn't aim to flex its graphical prowess by making hyperrealistic characters; instead, it took a hands-on approach to crafting every 3D emoji into something universal and instantly recognizable. "Research led by UX Engineer Dr. Alexander Robertson revealed that highly anatomical details like irises or nostril depth actually slow down how fast our brains process emotion. Stripping away extraneous detail and keeping facial geometry minimal keeps the expression universally readable. Those micro-expressions carry surprisingly high stakes. Flipping the direction of a wink or slightly shifting an eyebrow can turn playful teasing into perceived aggression, especially when translating across different operating systems." The brand also had to carefully translate 2D images into 3D, adding and subtracting as needed. For example, the poodle emoji shows a dog with only three legs because of its perspective. So it doesn't work when brought to 3D, and Google had to add a leg to make it look right. Credit: Google Google also had to decide what to do with its animal emoji, turning floating heads into full-body creations. Naturally, 3D adds a new level of detail, but Google had to keep things simple and to the point, ensuring the emoji communicated what needed to be communicated at a quick glance. Perhaps the most important part of Noto 3D is that all 3,977 characters are open source. That means everyone can use it freely, without any issues. Google said it best in its own post: "A design system only feels alive when people can actively tear it apart and remix it. Take it somewhere we could have never expected. Emoji don’t belong to anyone. They belong to the people who use them. To keep Noto dynamic, we’re handing over the keys: The Noto 3D library will be entirely open source." You will see Noto 3D rolling out to Google and other Android products. If you want to check out the full gallery, it is currently up on GitHub.