How to represent your town with custom Snapchat geofilters

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Your bedroom probably doesn't count as a
Your bedroom probably doesn't count as a "location."
Photo: Maurizio Pesce/FlickrCC

If you’re looking to show a little local pride in Snapchat, the company made it pretty easy to make and upload your own so that you (and anyone else who’s in that location) can swipe right and show off a custom geofilter.

All you need is a graphics program like Illustrator, Photoshop, or (my favorite) Pixelmator, a little bit of time, and you can represent your town with a custom Snapchat geofilter.

Here’s how.

Head over to Snapchat’s geofilter page and click on “Let’s Do It.”

If you’re a graphics whiz, you can create your own template, but let’s click Next to get through the specifications page and get to the page where you define your geolocation.

Grab a template and draw your geofence.
Grab a template and draw your geofence.
Photo: Snapchat

Click on Download Photoshop template (or Illustrator, if that’s your bag) and then open the resulting file in Photoshop, Illustrator, or Pixelmator (my choice).

Delete the layer with all the text on it, then create your graphics masterpiece. The simpler, the better, of course – you don’t want to obscure your snaps with a full-screen image, either.

My own "masterpiece."
My own “masterpiece.”
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Once you’re finished, export your graphic to your Desktop as a transparent PNG (it should automatically do this if you used the template above.

Using the map on the Snapchat geofilter page, click on the map to surround the area you’re making the graphic for. You can right-click on any mistakes you make. This will be the location where your image (if accepted) will show up for Snapchatters.

Gerrymandering's got nothing on you.
Gerrymandering’s got nothing on you.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Next, click on the big plus sign on Snapchat’s page, where it says “upload image.” Choose the PNG file you just created and let it upload. Fill in your name, email, and write a bit on why the location you chose is meaningful to you. Click through all the checkboxes, including the one that proves you’re not a robot, somehow, and hit Submit.

That’s it – you’re good to go. As soon as it’s approved by Snapchat, you should be able to right swipe when you’re at the location you defined and find your awesome artwork.

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