Meet An Artist Behind Hinsdale's Snapchat Selfies

If you’ve ever used Snapchat, you know one of the best features of the image messaging app is using and discovering new geofilters.

Geofilters are localized graphic designs that can be placed on top of photos taken in Snapchat. They’re tied to specific places, and they can offer users a glimpse into the personality of a neighborhood, village or city.

If you think Snapchat has hired a dedicated team of graphic designers to investigate and illustrate cities around the world to make geofilters, you’re wrong. Geofilters are mostly created by local artists on their own time. Their designs have to pass Snapchat’s approval process before they can be slid onto your snap.

We’ve tracked down a few of these unsung artists to ask about the secrets behind making geofilters for a top mobile app company. Molly Malec is just one of the artists behind the designs in front of your selfies.

Name: Molly Malec
Age: 23
Hometown: Brookfield, Illinois
Geofilters: Wrigleyville, Little Italy, Downtown La Grange, Riverside, Brookfield and Hinsdale.
Day job: Art director in downtown La Grange with SPM Marketing and Communications
Design experience: Advertising, logos, T-shirt designs and cartoons. Also branding and small businesses design.

1. What made you want to create a Snapchat Geofilter?
Making geofilters is like giving a town a little brand. I got really excited when I heard about geofilters. When they came out, I went crazy. I wanted my neighborhood to have them. I started making geofilters mostly around my neighborhood.

More in this series:

• Meet The Artist Behind Woodridge and Lisle’s Snapchat Selfies
• Meet The Artist Behind Elmhurst’s Snapchat Selfies
• Meet The Artist Behind Glen Ellyn’s Snapchat Selfies
• Meet An Artist Behind Naperville’s Snapchat Selfies

2. What was the process for submitting your design?
Most of them, I made in a month or two. After I made about 10 designs, I started only doing them when I want to. Wrigleyville took a couple tries to be accepted. I think in popular neighborhoods, Snapchat wants the geofilters to be really good.

I noticed when you submit a design, if it’s really good and they love it, they’ll make it go live in 24 hours. Sometimes they don’t get accepted, if you don’t follow the rules. You can’t have logos, they have to be a certain file size. If it doesn’t follow the rules, they’ll send an email back like ‘Oh, it didn’t work out.’ It just depends on the piece. They really want you to show a more creative side. The first Wrigleyville filter I did, I made it look like the sign on the back of the stadium. Snapchat didn’t accept my design until I made it again, and I made a vintage look to it. They want more style. I’ve had friends ask me to make geofilters for towns I don’t really know a lot about. It’s really hard to do that because I like to give the geofilters a little theme.

3. What inspired your geofilter designs?
Downtown La Grange was the first one I made. I had to put in the La Grange Theatre because I worked there all through high school and in college throughout my breaks. I had to put the marquee in it. It says Downtown La Grange because that’s what people call it, and that’s where the teenagers hang out.

My favorite one I’ve made is the Brookfiled one because that’s where I live, and I had to make it super cute because I use it a lot. It has an elephant and giraffe that meet in the middle, they almost kiss and it says “Brookfield” across the top. I made it Dr. Seus-y because the zoo is so big, it’s kind of like the center of the town. When you submit a geofilter, you have to sell it in the description and write why it’s special to you. My second favorite filter I made is the Little Italy one because I had fun making the cheese slices.

Hinsdale is so fancy, so it was fun to make that one because there are a lot of mansions in Hinsdale.

4. What was it like to see your geofilter come to life on Snapchat?
It was so exciting. I posted on Facebook to let my friends know to try them out, and I got really excited when I started to see Snapchats from people I didn’t know, people saying, “Wow, we got a new geofilter!” I like that I can make this fun little cartoon that people get excited about. It’s theirs, it’s on Snapchat, it’s free and everyone can use it.

5. Has being a geofilter artist come with any fame or fortune?
Not really, but that’s OK because I like making the geofilters. All my friends keep saying, “You have to figure out how to make money making them,” but I like making them just as a hobby. Part of the excitement, when you’re out and about, is you don’t know if that town has a geofilter until you swipe right. When I first started making all those geofilters, I made 10 in one month. When I ran into people, they’d be like “What is this filter thing?” My dad keeps asking me how to do it and I’m like, “Dad you need to download Snapchat.” But I don’t know any parents who have made it on Snapchat yet.

6. How does it feel to know people in the community are putting your artwork on their selfies?
I love it, I think it’s flattering that they use my filter, because I know there are a couple filters out there that aren’t very pretty. I’m glad people like to use mine.

Images courtesy of Molly Malec. Know anyone else who has created local Snapchat geofilters? Email morgan.searles@patch.com.