by Stephanie Palazzolo, senior editor
As the third week of school draws to a close, many students are already overwhelmed by the stresses and pressures of high school. Sometimes, all one wants to do is travel back to simpler times, when life revolved around coloring books and cute cartoons. And the new avatar-creating app FaceQ does just that.
The app came to widespread attention last week when it jumped to the top of the free apps list on the iTunes store. As of today, it has dropped to the #6 spot, but still has an impressive 45,000 five-star reviews.
FaceQ’s minimalistic design gives it a clean feel, full of straight lines and soft pastel colors. There are no ads, no annoying pop-ups that compete for the user’s attention; just a nice white screen — which is hard to find with the multitude of irritatingly constant presence of advertisements in other apps.
The amusing app gained success as users started to appreciate its simple layout, which contrast with the often complicated and convoluted instructions for other apps today. The process is simple: Choose whether you’re a boy or girl, personalize your avatar and share.
The app has over 150 options for hairstyles alone, and that’s not counting the other options available for hair color, face shape, skin color, background and much more. And if you’re not the most decisive person in the world, don’t fear; the app has many pre-made backgrounds and facial expressions that are reminiscent of the chibi craze.
However, FaceQ doesn’t come without drawbacks. The app was originally made in Chinese, and sometimes it seems like the creators took the Chinese words, plopped them into Google Translate and then inserted them back into the app. This can lead to some pretty strange translations, including speech bubbles that contain not-so-relevant sayings like, “pat pat,” “bingo” and a personal favorite, “marry me.” (Why the producers would even have an inkling of a thought that anyone would want to use the app to propose to a significant other, I have no idea.) In addition, it could do with a little more choice in eye color and shape, since the user doesn’t have the option to change the eye color of a specific eye.
All in all, though, FaceQ is a nice break from the complexity of other apps and life in general. It’s the perfect item to add that childlike spirit back into your life.
Find FaceQ on the App Store or on Google Play.
