You just took the perfect photo. Your hair looked good and the light was just right. But there’s something missing. You swipe your finger and a brightly colored, cartoon-like design pops up below, sharing where you are. Then the photo is finally complete.
You’ve added a geofilter—an overlay that denotes a specific location and can only be accessed in that area. Snapchat has made it possible for people to submit their own designs for specific locations. Both Bethesda and Whitman have been “tagged” by geofilters made by students.
The Bethesda geofilter, created by senior Paige Spaulding, became live in early April. The filter displays the name of the town in neon pink and green letters and runs all the way across the bottom of the screen.
Spaulding got the idea to submit a design after hearing about the submission process.
Spaulding took digital art sophomore year and landed an internship at a graphic design firm. Spaulding describes her style as “definitely colorful,” and says her main goal is to try to make things that “people haven’t really seen before.”
In order to submit a geofilter, the designer only has to follow a few guidelines: a completely original design that doesn’t cover too much of the picture, refers to a public place, and is relevant to the location.
“I’ve heard a lot of mixed feedback from people. Personally I do like it just because it’s cohesive with everything else I’ve made and it shows my voice. Spaulding said. Others have said ‘it doesn’t represent Bethesda’.”
Whitman and a few other schools in the area, like B-CC, have been tagged with geofilters for their school zones. One of the two Whitman geofilters was designed by sophomores Stefanie Abramowitz and Abby Singer; it’s unknown who designed the other one.
Singer and Abramowitz designed their geofilter by drawing it by hand, uploading it to a website called pixlr, and then manipulating the image, Abramowitz said. A week or so later, the Snapchat team emailed them to tell them their geofilter would be made live.
“People have been using the geotag a lot and coming up to us and telling us how much they like it,” Abramowitz said. “It’s quite an honor. We made that and everyone can see it.”
If you know who made the other geofilter, comment and tell us or email us at [email protected].
