What is Unicode: Understanding characters, fonts, and symbols

What is Unicode, and why was it created?

Before Unicode, computer systems had their own encoding standards, which made text illegible between systems. It wasn’t possible to combine different languages in one document or program. Written content generated using American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) appeared as random symbols on some brands and non-English systems. Examples include IBM’s EBCDIC, Western Europe’s ISO-8859-1, and Japan’s Shift-JIS.

As communication turned global via the Internet, software engineers developed a new standard based on ASCII but overcame its limitations. In 1991, the Unicode Consortium was formed by major computer manufacturers to adopt the new standard for multilingual text.

So what is Unicode?

Unicode is an international character encoding system that assigns each character a unique code point or a distinct numeric ID. It’s like a master list of characters. When you type something, your computer uses the unique ID to identify that character before turning it into readable text.

Due to the Unicode standard’s universal acceptance, designers and digital creators can focus less on compatibility issues when aiming for a consistent brand identity in text-based content when reaching new markets.

How Unicode works behind the scenes

Unlike humans, computers don’t understand language. They translate text into binary digits that they can process. Unicode serves as that “global translator,” allowing characters to appear on screens as intended.

When a user types a character, it goes through the following process:

1. Unicode assigns a code point to each character. For instance, U+1234, where “U” stands for Unicode followed by a hexadecimal number.
2. The code point is encoded into bytes, allowing computers to save or transmit characters.
3. The computer — operating system, browser, or app — matches code points to glyphs, or the graphical representations of characters based on your chosen font.
4. The font displays the text visually.

The most popular encoding system is Unicode Transformation Format – 8-bit. UTF-8 encoding is the recommended standard for web (HTML5) and is fully compatible with ASCII.

Meanwhile, many desktop and internal server-side processing applications, such as Windows API and Java, use UTF-16. This encoding is also widely used for languages with large character sets, such as CJK or Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

Below are some examples. Whether the character is an emoji or belongs to a specific language, it follows the same process from code point to final font rendering.

Unicode and fonts: How they work together

Some people have combined the terms "Unicode font" to mean fonts that support a large character set. The truth is, that fonts and characters are two different things. Unicode is the system that defines characters, while fonts are collections of glyphs (graphical shapes) that tell the computer how the characters should look.

Example: The accented character "é" can look different, depending on your chosen font:

é (serif font, Times New Roman) vs. é (sans serif font, Arial)

Your chosen font or font pairings should match the tone and message your brand wishes to convey.

Each font file arranges its glyphs in a table. The process of linking a code point to a specific glyph is called character-to-glyph mapping. When a font file lacks a glyph for a specific character, placeholder symbols — typically white boxes and question marks — appear in their place. This makes the text hard to read.

Example: résumé, façade

Broken display: r□sum□, fa□ade

To avoid this problem when working with multilingual content, select a font with proper Unicode support. Doing so will ensure brand consistency in any platform, including social media.

 Why Unicode matters for global communication

Imagine how individuals and businesses would communicate in various languages simultaneously using their smartphones, desktop computers, and other devices if a globally shared system didn't exist.

Through the compatibility Unicode provides, designers, and content creators can benefit in the following ways:

• Reduced friction.

By using Unicode-supported fonts via tools such as Adobe Express, you minimize missing characters or garbled text (also called mojibake), which can lead to miscommunication or frustration.

• Global reach.

People can view the same text, whether it's exchanged on messaging apps or published on websites, social media, or e-commerce platforms.

• Modern expression.

Unicode helps ensure emojis and other pictographs can be searched and displayed properly across web platforms, Windows, Android, and Apple devices.

• Localization.

A platform’s content and features can be tailored to the local language of target audiences. For instance, the e-commerce platform of a US-based brand targeting Asian and European customers should be available in their languages. Unicode ensures the text on webpages, from product pages to customer reviews, is intelligible, facilitating sales and nurturing trust.

• Inclusivity.

Because Unicode accurately represents diverse languages and scripts, it widens the digital space for designs from various cultures. Unicode also future-proofs itself by continuously updating to accommodate new characters and scripts as they evolve.

Examples:

eBay

eBay migrated from ISO 8859-1 (Latin-1) to Unicode, enabling users worldwide to search, list, and buy products using non-Latin characters (Cyrillic, Chinese, or Japanese) without breaking down the system.

JustSystems

As the pioneer implementer of the standard's application in word processing in Japan, JustSystems’s flagship software — Ichitaro — effectively supported CJK characters. The step helped the company scale globally.

How Unicode shapes fonts and typography in design

Since text complements visuals in establishing your brand image and message, designers and marketers need to make strategic typography decisions. It's more than just selecting a font. Every character should display correctly on all platforms. And this is where Unicode can help build a cohesive look for stronger brand recognition.

Unicode enables designers to use international languages in digital design. But how fonts implement that standard will determine how characters appear on screen. Comparing the appearance of your design across devices before publication is still advisable.

Design considerations for multilingual fonts and symbol-rich content

Laying out multilingual typography using tools like Adobe Express requires care beyond proper character display. Some factors to watch out for include:

• Character density

CJK scripts can appear thicker than Latin ones (26-letter alphabets like the English language) at the same font size. As a result, designers may reduce CJK characters or increase the size of Latin fonts for visual balance.

• Diacritics

Widen spacing between letters and lines (leading) to prevent crowding when handling fonts with diacritics or accents and other marks. Diacritics are found in Vietnamese, Polish, German, French, and Spanish texts. Without these special characters, the words will be hard to read or may be misinterpreted.

Examples:

• Vietnamese: nam (south) vs. năm (year)
• Polish: kasa (cash) vs. kąsa (bites)
• German: schon (already) vs. schön (beautiful)
• French: du (some/of the) vs. dû (due/owed)
• Spanish: si (if) vs. sí (yes)

• Directionality

Some writing systems, such as Hebrew and Arabic, read from right to left (RTL). The entire webpage design should reflect this pattern: UI elements, such as sidebars and icons typically positioned on the left in English layouts, should appear to the right. Additionally, elements (example: "next" arrow) should be reversed and point to the left in RTL (not to the right).

The exceptions are digits (including time) and media control buttons (play, pause, and fast-forward), which retain their LTR sequence.

• Accessibility issues

While Unicode characters representing lines, geometric shapes, and arrows can be used as visual anchors (i.e., bullet points, checkboxes, or directional guides for visual flow), "fancy fonts" are not advisable. Screen readers for users with visual impairments can't interpret them properly. They read them one character at a time instead of whole words. Embedding text in graphics should also be avoided, as screen readers may struggle to read them effectively.

• Cultural nuance

More than checking the visual consistency of Unicode emojis, verify the cultural meaning of these symbols in your target foreign market.

Examples:

• The thumbs up sign (👍) signifies "good job" or affirmation in Western countries, but it's an offensive gesture in South America, West Africa, and parts of the Middle East.
• The OK hand sign (👌) can mean “everything’s fine” or “perfect” in Western countries, but carries a vulgar meaning in Brazil and some nations in the Middle East.

Font and text limitations in non-standard text tools

Although Unicode offers a wide range of characters, not all font styles support that full range in practice. This results in missing glyphs or characters with inconsistent appearance. They include typefaces generated by tools outside professional design platforms.

• "Unicode-style fonts" from online text generators

These fonts are "fancy lettering" that you might find in usernames and social media bios. They’re “copy-pasted” standard text converted into stylized Unicode symbols. Because they don’t belong to a font file, you can’t install them for use in a word processing software.

• Fonts from digital graphic sites

These sites require you to import each letter as a graphic into your design software. Because they're essentially images instead of typefaces, editing them can be complicated.

• Fonts labeled as free "with multilingual support"

These fonts typically only include partial language support, lacking diacritics and non-Latin scripts.

• Legacy fonts

Older fonts have limited character sets because they were created before Unicode adoption.

• System fallback fonts

Web browsers and computer operating systems display system fallback fonts when the primary requested font hasn't loaded yet, is unavailable, or lacks specific glyphs. Doing so ensures your text is readable and has no blank spaces or missing characters.

How to use Unicode-compatible fonts in Adobe Express

After discussing how Unicode works, here’s how you can apply this understanding when creating designs in Adobe Express.

Step 1: Select and open a design project in Adobe Express.

You can opt for editable templates by typing your theme in the search bar. Or start from scratch by going to "Start new file."

Step 2: Add text to your design.

Type or paste text, including any content in a different language, special characters, or symbols, to see how it appears on your working page.

Step 3: Pick and test a font for your text.

Click on the text box and go to the font selector on the left panel of your dashboard to make a selection. Apply different fonts to check whether all characters display correctly.

The font supports your text if there are no missing or substituted characters. For multilingual text and special characters, preview your design across different devices to verify whether it displays uniformly.

Step 4: Review and refine your text.

Ensure all characters, including accented letters and scripts, display properly. Adjust spacing and alignment for clarity and visual balance. Try another font from Adobe Express's font library if characters are missing or display inconsistently.

Step 5: Export your design.

Save the design in your desired format and export to your target platform after verifying that all characters appear correctly.

Simple checks for working with Unicode-friendly fonts

Consider the following tips you can apply when searching for and applying Unicode-supported fonts.

1.Test your text directly in Adobe Express.

Enter or paste your text on Adobe Express, and highlight the text block. Apply different fonts to check if all characters appear and display correctly without leaving the platform.

2. Choose fonts with built-in language support and install custom fonts when needed.

You can access a workable subset of these fonts under the Adobe Express free plan, but a premium plan gives you full access to all fonts.

For foreign language text: Go to the Adobe Fonts website, find the typeface you need, or type it in the search bar (for example: “Japanese”), and then follow these steps:

1)      Click on your selection, then scroll down to select your desired variant.

2)      To the far right of your chosen variant, a small box will appear saying, “Try in Adobe Express.” Click on it to be reverted to your working canvas, which now contains a text box with your selected foreign-language font.

3)      Edit as necessary so that your text box contains only the foreign text your design needs.

You can also upload custom fonts in Adobe Express with a premium plan and test them directly in your project. Or you can save them on your Brands tab before working on your design.

3. Verify consistency.

Ensure your preferred font accurately and consistently represents characters throughout your layout. Seeing random characters may be due to fallback fonts, as some fonts support only a subset of characters.

4. Preview before exporting.

Check if your text style sustains the same look across different formats and screens — website, social media, desktop/laptop, and mobile.