Students pull out their phones to take a Snapchat of the quad on the way to class, swiping right to browse through the available filters. But many of them have no idea who makes these filters.

Anthony Fante, a junior information management and technology major, is the mind behind many of the geotags found on Snapchat every day.

The summer going into his sophomore year at Syracuse University, Fante started seeing geotags for Snapchat in popular places like Manhattan, and realized there weren’t many in his home city of Denver. After playing around with Photoshop and failing a few times, he made one that was released in his hometown. From then on, his passion for making geofilters continued, and he said it’s become one of his favorite hobbies.

Right now, Fante has created about 50 geofilters, including about 10 around the Syracuse area. From filters at his home school, the School of Information Studies, to dining and residence halls, Fante has aimed to make student snaps more exciting. He’s also made filters for his fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, and made one in support of a friend running for Student Association president.

He’s especially proud of his newest release, the orange Dome filter.

“I’m really happy with the Dome filter, not only because it looks good, but because I see it on Snapchat stories just about every day, and it’s kinda cool to think that thousands of people are using that almost daily,” Fante said.

When making a new geofilter, he said he tries to create what comes to mind when he thinks of that location.

“I would say that I have a ‘design mind,’ so I just play around with things until they work,” he said.

It usually takes him no more than 45 minutes to create a geofilter.

Fante said his favorites so far are the one he made for the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado and the newest Dome one. He was also proud of making filters for the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications because of the school’s prestige as a school filled with designers who will see the filters when they’re there.

Although Fante said he loves this under-the-radar talent, he doesn’t see himself pursuing a career in this field.

Said Fante: “I don’t plan on going into a career for graphic design, but it was kind of fun to develop the skills and learn as I went on.”

Published on September 26, 2016 at 12:01 pm