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.

Rock on: the headbanger emoji. Photograph: Reuters

Billing the use of national symbols for themed emojis as a world first, the government plans to publish the full set of 30 in December – for anyone in the world to download – on its promotional website.

“The Finland emojis were designed with a tongue in cheek approach, but I hope that they will tell the world not only about our special features but also something about our strengths,” said Petra Theman, director for public diplomacy at the foreign ministry.

The Nokia 3310 emoji. Photograph: Reuters

One of the first emojis to be released is called the headbanger, which pays tribute to the Finnish love of heavy metal. The text beside it reads: “It is dark in Finland and so is the music. There’s a small headbanger living inside of each Finn.”

Another emoji, of a man and a woman in a sauna, has the explanatory text: “The Sauna. Doesn’t need introducing. Sauna is as Finnish as it gets. Naked.”

Emojis, originally used by Japanese mobile operators, have become increasingly popular after inclusions on Apple and Google smartphones.

Nokia, also represented by one of the first emojis, was once the global handset market leader. But it failed to compete in the smartphone market, eventually selling its phone business to Microsoft last year.