If you’ve ever been on Snapchat, you’ve probably used a geofilter at one point. If you’ve ever been on Snapchat during school, you’ve probably seen the Santaluces geofilter which was custom made to be used near the school. Geofilters are unique designs used to share your location or a special event to your Snapchat friends. Most people use geofilters without knowing how they’re made or the hard work that it takes to get approved and to eventually be used on Snapchat. The Santaluces one that we all know and love was created by student Javier Valladares.

He created the geofilter on January 14th, 2016. It took about a week to be reviewed and processed to go live for the school community. The filter was made through Photoshop CS6. He had created previous filters but Snapchat denied them so he decided to go plain and choose a random font and added a creative touch. Snapchat provides certain rules and guidelines to follow to get accepted. The process is simple for advanced Photoshop users but it is more difficult for students who don’t have digital design experience.

“The filter took about a week to be reviewed and processed,” said Valladares. “I picked up a random font and added a shine and stroke so that it could be visible in any setting.”

The geofilter has been something cool for students to use and show their school pride. They can use it during pep rallies and sporting events to show their friends where they are. It’s an interactive feature and shows the pride that students share at Santaluces.