New emoji app Halla Walla challenges misconceptions about the Middle East

Seven years ago an emoji featuring a man wearing a turban was approved by Unicode, the group that governs the creation and approval of emoticons, as a generic representation of Arabs, Muslims and Sikhs for use in chat apps.
Most Arabs viewed it as a flawed depiction of their culture. This prompted Saudi teenager Rayouf Alhumedhi to send a proposal to Unicode last year requesting a hijab and ghutra emoji be created. The 15-year-old’s request was approved and is expected to come to fruition this year.
In the meantime, app developers across the region are filling the gap with customisable keyboards and sticker apps that are more culturally accurate and add a playful twist to the stereotype of the humourless Arab.
The Halla Walla emoji keyboard – the name is the brainchild of Dubai residents Yasmine Rasool and Eriko Varkey – is the latest addition to this app market. It celebrates Arabian Gulf nationals and the nuances of the Khaleeji society with a range of emojis, including a kandura-clad man with hearts for eyes, and a winking woman in a loose hijab.
For people who grew up in the region, images of Omani chips, Sun Top orange juice, a bottle of Tabasco and a supercar will also strike a chord.
There are also text bubbles containing Arabic colloquialisms such as "Habibi", "Miskeen" and "Mabrook".
The keyboard, which is available in Arabic and English on Google Play and the Apple Store, sends the emojis as large images, stickers and gif animations.
It is a third-party application that can be used with most chat apss, including WhatsApp and Messenger.
keyboardThe Khaleeji app shows a range of emojis including a kandura-clad man and a woman in a loose hijab. Pawan Singh / The National
"Just Google Arab or Gulf emoji and you’ll get rib-tickling results," says Rasool, the Bahraini co-founder of Yerv, the lifestyle-app company behind the keyboard.
"Busting those myths about all Arabs being this serious, covered from head to toe, homogenous community is at the very heart of our fun keyboard," says the 31-year-old fine-arts major.
Rasool, who splits her time between New York, London and Dubai, says constant questions such as "Why do you speak such good English?" and "You seem really open-minded for an Arab" prompted her to address such perceptions and attitudes the best way she and her partner possibly could – with an emoji app.
"I have had to keep on explaining to people during my travels that Arabs are really cool and there isn’t just one type of Arab," she says. "We are rich in different cultures."
When she sat down with her designer, from New York, and asked for ideas about how to best represent people in the Middle East, she was surprised at the response.
"She sent me illustrations of a sort of Aladdin palace, a flying carpet and a woman in a tight fuchsia pink hijab," says Rasool. "She said she drew them from references online. She was right – when you search for Arab-related emoji, you get these fantasy images or it’s a covered Malaysian one. Nothing is catering to the Khaleeji society."
Rasool worked with designers and developers Oxygn Holdings Limited to draw each of the characters she wanted, each reflecting an aspect of the diversity across the region.
"It was like a class in anthropology," she says. "I had to explain to them that not everyone wears a hijab really tight and not all Arabs cover their head. It was a fun experiment."
It took the team six months to develop the app. After holding numerous focus-group discussions with men, women and children, they came up with more than 60 quirky images.

Source: The National