Finland is the first country in the world to publish its own set of country themed emojis. The Finland emojis illustrate Finnish emotions and are part of the Christmas calendar published by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on ThisisFINLAND, the country brand website.

The emoji calendar can be followed at xmas.finland.fi and the social media channels of ThisisFINLAND.

The calendar has 24 hatches. An emoji illustrating a Finland emotion is revealed when a new window is opened. Some of the emotions are represented by an internationally known Finn. In addition, the emoji collection contains other important things associated with Finland.

“The emojis used especially by young people have revolutionised communications in the same way as the invention of the text message. Emojis are used to communicate visually rather than verbally, and that suits Finns,” says Petra Theman, Director for Public Diplomacy.

The entire collection of more than 30 emojis can be downloaded from app stores for free on 1 December, the day the Christmas calendar is launched. The emojis were designed by Art Director Bruno Leo Ribeiro of the marketing and communication agency hasan & partners, together with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

ThisisFINLAND’s Christmas calendar will be available in 13 different languages. In addition to the usual ThisisFINLAND languages (English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, German, French, Portuguese), the emoji calendar will be published in Japanese, Arabic, Korean, Hindi, Polish and Turkish.

“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. One example is disarming honesty,” Petra Theman continues.

Emojis are originating from Japan. This symbolic language has gradually become a part of everyday communications around the world. Smileys and other ideograms, which usually describe emotions, compress much information into a small space. They are used widely, especially in mobile communications and social media.

ThisisFINLAND is produced by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and is published by Finland Promotion Board. Finland Promotion Board gathers together organizations working with the image of Finland and draws up yearly priorities for that work.

Inquiries: Petra Theman, Director for Public Diplomacy, tel. +358 295 351 558.