Minimize refers to a proposed or discussed emoji-style symbol concept based on the familiar computer window control used to hide, collapse, or reduce an interface element. It was not approved as a standard Unicode emoji, but it fits the type of utility and user-interface symbol that appeared in emoji proposal discussions and symbol set comparisons during the period when many pictographic candidates were being reviewed. People may have wanted a Minimize emoji to express making something smaller, reducing stress, lowering attention, hiding from a conversation, or stepping back from drama.
As a visual concept, Minimize would likely have appeared as a small horizontal line, a minus-like bar, or a button resembling the minimize control from desktop operating systems. In Apple- or iOS-style mockups, if it had ever been illustrated, it might have used a clean rounded-square button, a gray or blue interface tile, or a yellow macOS-style window-control dot with a dark horizontal dash. Since there is no official Apple emoji for this candidate, such appearances should be understood as conceptual rather than an actual released design.
Symbolically, Minimize could overlap with ideas like βmake it smaller,β βhide this,β βreduce volume,β βcalm down,β βless is more,β or βI am minimizing the problem.β In internet and meme usage, it could have worked as a reaction to embarrassment, social withdrawal, muting a chaotic thread, or jokingly shrinking someoneβs importance. Its appeal came from the way digital communication often borrows interface language to describe feelings and social behavior, making a simple UI control potentially useful as an expressive emoji.
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Emoji History The emoji code/ image log of changes.
This emoji was one of the "suggested emojis" the Unicode group unveiled in June 2014 [article], however, it has been, and still is, up to the companies who support emoji in their operating systems to provide not only images but also an algorithm to replace the emoji code into the emoji image.
