How to Keep Your Remote Team's Custom Emojis Consistent
A simple style guide keeps your team's custom emotes organized. Naming conventions, visual standards, and governance that actually works.
Remote teams use Slack or Discord constantly. Custom emojis become part of your company culture—but without guidelines, you end up with 500 random emojis where half are unclear and nobody can find anything. A simple style guide keeps your emoji library useful instead of chaotic. Here's what to document.
Why teams need emoji guidelines
Discoverability matters. When your team has 200 custom emojis with inconsistent naming (":checkmark:", ":check:", ":greencheck:", ":approved:"), nobody knows which one to use. Consistent naming patterns make emojis findable via autocomplete.
Visual consistency looks professional. Random emoji styles from different creators make your Slack look like a Pinterest board. When all your custom emojis follow the same visual rules, they feel cohesive and intentional.
Prevents redundancy. Without a system, three people will independently create "thumbs up" emojis and you'll have near-duplicates cluttering the emoji picker. Guidelines prevent this waste of effort.
Naming conventions
Use prefixes for categories. Group related emojis with consistent prefixes so they appear together in autocomplete:
:status-available:,:status-busy:,:status-ooo:for availability:project-alpha:,:project-beta:for project-specific emojis:dept-eng:,:dept-design:,:dept-marketing:for departments:react-approve:,:react-question:,:react-celebrate:for reactions
Be descriptive and specific. :needs-review: is better than :eyeball:. People should be able to guess the meaning from the name alone.
Use hyphens, not underscores or spaces. :on-it: not :on_it: or :onit:. Consistent punctuation makes them easier to type and remember.
Avoid abbreviations unless they're universal. :out-of-office: is clearer than :ooo: for new team members. Exception: universally known abbreviations like :wfh: or :afk:.
Visual design standards
Pick a color palette and document it. Choose 4-6 brand colors plus black, white, and gray. Write down the hex codes. Every custom emoji should use only these colors (or close variations). This creates visual unity.
Example palette:
- Primary: #3B82F6 (blue)
- Success: #10B981 (green)
- Warning: #F59E0B (orange)
- Error: #EF4444 (red)
- Neutral: #6B7280 (gray)
- Accent: #8B5CF6 (purple)
Consistent outline style. Decide: do all emojis have a 2-3px outline or not? If yes, what color? (Usually black or white depending on the emoji's main color.) Stick to this rule across all emojis.
Same animation style and speed. If you make animated emojis, keep them consistent. All gentle 1.5-second bounces, or all subtle pulses, or all static with one blink. Don't mix aggressive shaking with smooth fades—looks amateur.
File format and size. Standardize on PNG or GIF, and a specific size (usually 128x128 or 256x256). Slack and Discord auto-resize, but starting with consistent dimensions makes everything easier.
Usage guidelines
Define when to use vs. not use custom emojis. Are they for internal communication only, or okay in client channels? Professional contexts only, or casual chat too? Be explicit about boundaries.
Document common use cases. Create a reference guide showing:
- Status updates: ":status-available:", ":status-in-meeting:", ":status-focused:"
- Acknowledgment: ":react-seen:", ":react-noted:", ":react-on-it:"
- Approval workflow: ":needs-review:", ":approved:", ":changes-requested:"
- Celebration: ":win:", ":shipped:", ":milestone:"
Prevent emoji pollution. Not every inside joke needs a custom emoji. Set a threshold: emojis must be useful to at least 25% of the team or solve a specific communication need. This prevents clutter.
Governance and approval process
Designate emoji maintainers. 1-2 people responsible for reviewing new emoji requests, checking they follow guidelines, and uploading them. Prevents random people from adding inconsistent emojis.
Request process. Create a simple form or Slack workflow for emoji requests: What's it for? What should it look like? Who will use it? This filters out low-value requests and helps maintainers understand context.
Periodic cleanup. Every 6 months, review emoji usage analytics (Slack provides this). Remove emojis that haven't been used in 3+ months. Keeps the library manageable.
Onboarding new team members
Create an emoji legend. Pin a message in your general channel or add a page to your wiki showing your most-used custom emojis with explanations. New hires shouldn't have to guess what ":pr-needs-eyes:" means.
Lead by example. Managers and long-time employees should use custom emojis consistently. New people will copy the behavior they see. If leadership ignores custom emojis, nobody else will use them either.
Sample style guide (one-page version)
Company Name Emoji Style Guide
Colors: Use only brand colors (#3B82F6 blue, #10B981 green, #F59E0B orange, #EF4444 red, #6B7280 gray)
Naming: Use category prefixes (status-, react-, project-, dept-) + descriptive name + hyphens
Size: 128x128px PNG or GIF
Style: 2px black outline, flat colors, gentle animation (1-2 second loops)
Request process: Post in #emoji-requests with use case and description
Approval: Reviewed by @emoji-maintainers within 48 hours
Start simple: Pick 3 rules (naming convention, color palette, outline style), document them in one page, and assign one person to enforce them. Expand the guide as issues come up. Don't create a 50-page document nobody will read. Create your team's first emoji set →