AUSTIN — Snapchat users in Austin have probably come across Jordan Villarreal's geofilters.
Among his collection, there's a generic Austin filter for everyone in the city to use and even a filter for the Congress Avenue bridge -- with bats!
People love them. One Twitter user called him a "filter legend," while another called him a "talented designer."
"I just did this as a hobby. I didn't expect people to, like, actually get attached to them," Villarreal said.
Despite his colorful creations, the senior biology major at The University of Texas at Austin told KVUE he's still learning how to design them.
"I never took any formal class or anything," he said. "I'm still not even that familiar with Photoshop. I'm still figuring it out. I'm self-taught."
It takes him about a month or so to create one filter. Sometimes, he gets them done quicker, depending on his motivation.
"Sometimes, places have, like, really obvious landmarks that kind of just pop out, like, 'Oh, if I wanted to do a filter for that place, I would use one landmark. Other places are more subtle," Villarreal said.
Villarreal's most popular filter is of a man dressed up as a Longhorn band member making the "Hook 'Em" gesture, according to the UT student.
"I'm attached to them because I made them, but I didn't realize they would have such an impact on, like, the student body here," Villarreal said.
Although people use his filters daily, he doesn't have any current plans to make new ones.
"But given the response I got from this, I'm kind of tempted to start again," Villarreal said.
And even if Villarreal doesn't start again, he's already made his mark, one Snapchat geofilter at a time.
"They tell you when you get to college, 'Oh, make your mark on the university,'" he said. "And I'm just glad that I've done it in my own way."