Ventriloquist

Ventriloquist was by far the most unique application as well as the most fun for me to develop and produce. The concept behind Ventriloquist is turning a photo of someone into a virtual ventriloquist’s dummy. The interface for this application is very minimal, which felt appropriate considering its singular purpose. Oddly enough, I wanted the application to be dummy-proof, in that the user should never be confused what to do next. The interface makes sure it leads the user to the next step in the process with explanatory text, automatic drop down menus and highlighted buttons.

The application starts out by giving the option to take a new photo to manipulate or use a saved photo from the iPhone’s photo library. Once chosen, the photo fills the screen and the program instructs the user to define the mouth of the dummy by dragging from one corner of the mouth to the other. With a tap of the “dummy-ize” button and a few seconds wait the application produces a virtual dummy whose mouth can be made to open and close by sliding a finger up and down anywhere on the touch screen.