If you take a good look around you, the Internet is still being flooded with users trying to upload or share the best photo of themselves. Be it profile pictures on social media, dating websites, and even resumes, we all want to have great first impressions.
Apparently an app developer, Erick Kuo from miantanteam, saw the popularity in that area and decided to bank on it. With this inspiration, he launched FaceQ: a platform for users to go wild with creativity and dramatize their true selves into cartoon-styled avatars.
It may sound like nothing much now, but when you actually download the app for yourself and play around with it, you might just get addicted. I, for one, was wondering why my sister was creating all sorts of avatars of her friends and even K-pop stars, to which she asked me if they actually resembled them. I was quite amazed by how accurate the avatars turned out to be. That was when I got hooked.
First Impression
The moment I opened the app, I was greeted with a minimalist front page. But a word of warning – when I clicked on the Boy/Girl choice, I nearly got the shock of my life at 4am, because out of nowhere came a sound effect that was completely unexpected. Yes, they have different sounds for both genders, but in my opinion, the girl’s version is a tad creepier. Try it for yourself, but ensure that your volume isn’t at its max!
Once you get past that unique experience, you’ll be awed by the endless variety of facial features, and the large wardrobe of fashion styles for your upper bod, even down to the accessories. Trust me, this isn’t just an app for the ladies, men seem to love it too.
Why do I say that? Just browse the #FaceQ hashtag on Instagram, and you will find just as many guys and girls posting their works online. In fact, some individuals have even resorted to opening an account just for FaceQ, and are willing to do shoutouts and FaceQ requests.
Features
Other than the gender choice (Boy/Girl), you may also choose to select the “2 Players” option for a duo personalisation. If you want to browse your past creations, there is a history file just for all your creative projects.
There are 17 tabs for you to browse through to customize your avatar, from the obvious Hairstyles, Face Shape, Skin Shade and Outfit, to the smaller minute details like the kind of Eyes, Mouth, Nose,Eyebrows, and Facial Hair/Beauty Marks. If you’re feeling extra sassy, you can flip through Hair Accessories, Hand Gestures, Text Bubbles and Ready-Made Avatar Frames to add some pizzazz to your FaceQ look.
The gestures are a brilliant addition, as it adds a lot more life and character into the avatar. Having text bubbles, plus the option for customised text makes the whole experience more personal, which I feel is a great feature, as we can even make memes out of it if we choose to, and share them with your friends on your social media channels. The memes are a marketing campaign in itself.
As mentioned earlier, the choices are uncountable, and the possibilities are endless. It all boils down to how creative your brain juices can get.
Hot Or Not
Currently ranked at #4 under the ‘Free’ Top Chart on the App Store and #1 on Google Play, FaceQ seems to be faring extremely well, its popularity stemming from users who have created and shared avatars of famous stars and characters on social sites.
As we all know, there was a worldwide hype over the infamous selfie trend, which led to “wefie”, and now, the selfie stick. This app takes that aspect to another level; as you can conjure up your desired image, look great without requiring Photoshop, and never worrying about the angle. Instagrammers have even taken to uploading a split screen photo, one side selfie, the other side avatar, so you can judge their FaceQ skills for yourself.
However, I would suggest more accessories to improve the current selection. It’d be cool to introduce earrings, since most ladies don them daily, and on a whole, expand the avatar into a full body creation, where we can choose more outfits and introduce shoes. Having the option to add our own background from our camera roll would be a fine touch as well, so we can place ourselves back in that trip to Europe last summer, but in FaceQ form!
Final Verdict
In my opinion, the feature that stands out from this app is definitely the variety of hand gestures, something avatar mobile apps don’t offer at this point, as well as the extensive range of facial features that caters to everyone and really gives them the option to show off their personality with the look.
Part of its quick success can be attributed to its promotion by Park Chanyeol from the Korean Boyband EXO, who designed hilarious avatars of his 10 bandmates and posted on his Instagram much to the delight of his fans. But overall, this app is still pretty solid on its own, and is a wonderful source of entertainment for anyone who’s just plain bored.
I would definitely recommend this app to my friends, who I’m sure will embrace it with laughter and hilarity. On the fun side, you can even adopt various avatars for your phone’s lock screen. After all, it’s just you – dramatized with a splash of creativity! And who wouldn’t love that?
