In 2019, before TikTok’s “clean girl”, the VSCO girl was a noted figure. The term, derived from the app, referenced a sect of teenage girls and a distinctive aesthetic attributed to them. The VSCO girl wore neon-hued scrunchies, oversized sweatshirts, and ripped denim shorts; she used a Hydro Flask and drank Starbucks frappuccinos; she likely owned Birkenstock sandals and a pastel Polaroid camera. And she captured these facets making up the DNA of the VSCO girl with filtered pictures via the VSCO app, later posting them all over Instagram.
The company’s current president, Eric Wittman, tells Mashable that the trend was “a really unique moment for the company, which was also unintentional.” The intense virality of the VSCO girl inadvertently became an opportunity for its namesake app, which today is being shaped as a platform for the artistically-inclined, professional creator.
Formerly known as VSCO Cam, the photography app was launched in 2011, offering an editing toolkit and a range of preset filters. The app has always provided users with a designated page for their edits, where users can post and comment on the content produced.
Wittman describes the ethos of the company, from the beginning, as both for and as a result of “folks who lived and breathed creativity.”
“A lot of what the company was working on — the tools that it built, the programmes that it created — was very much focused around what we refer to as the casual creator,” he explains. Now, this user base has matured, says Wittman, with VSCO simultaneously pivoting to cater to professional creatives.
Credit: VSCO
“We’ve really recognized that supporting serious creators is now more important than ever before,” he says, citing the “boom in the creator economy.”
The “serious creator” now may very well be those once deemed “VSCO girls”: “Those folks are still with us, and we’re maturing with them,” he says, adding that users are “able to still use VSCO to get inspired, to connect with others, to make things.” The demographic appears to be veering into the professional; artists, photographers and videographers, for example, can turn to the app for their portfolio and career needs.
VSCO holds an interesting space in the wider market of social apps, given the fact that it isn’t exactly a social app by nature. Compared to Instagram and TikTok, VSCO holds an alternative purpose, perhaps one more closely mirroring Pinterest with its emphasis on aesthetics and inspiration. Wittman says that VSCO’s goal is to be a “creator to creator” platform, mostly for artists making things. The company saw “a void” that the app can fill. “We’re not ruled by algorithms and advertisements, right? This is a community – with tools, with empowerment.”
VSCO, which has $90 million in funding, likely drives its revenue thanks to its membership model. Launched in 2017, a subscription to the app unlocks 200+ editing presets, along with video editing and other advanced tools. Free access to VSCO provides limited tools and presets in comparison. Yearly membership starts at $29.99, and monthly begins at $7.99. According to VSCO, the company had over 2 million paying members in 2018.
“[It’s] connection we’re driving to drive, versus being an algorithmically driven model — that’s more of a pure consumer play, which is not our reason for being right now,” Wittman explains.
Credit: Vsco.
VSCO’s rebranding also involved placing a greater emphasis on community, a reaction to the burgeoning creator economy and the collective desire for engagement on social networks. Last year for example, the VSCO introduced collaborative galleries called Spaces on the app, allowing users to engage with fellow creators, share new work, launch projects, and importantly, make shared galleries around themes, locations, or events, and get feedback from others. The point of these “mini collectives”, as Wittman calls them, is to inspire users to develop their work, explore different topics, and establish regular interaction within the VSCO ecosystem.
While VSCO Spaces is a more interactive feature, it is still a niche one, allowing for connection and communication in a way starkly different from other social apps. Given the demand for this in an increasingly, crowded marketplace of apps, such changes were likely crucial for VSCO to stay relevant. Wittman says Spaces was “a bet” for the company, but alleges that the feature has millions of viewers.
Spaces has recently been updated to include text-based posts for “enhanced storytelling”, as well as the option of “shareable assets” so that creators and viewers can spread the work they both make and see. The company also holds Creator Sessions every month, where a different creative presents their work to other users. In line with VSCO’s new direction, these updates reflect the app’s desire to be seen as a place where creators can produce and amplify their work, alongside others.
Of course, artists also want to be paid for their work. Wittman says the company has seen an increase in brands coming to VSCO looking to be connected creators and artists for collaborations and campaigns.
“We believe that that’s a big opportunity for us as well: connecting brands and organisations with creators, so that we can continue to help them with that journey of making a living from VSCO.” This is a component of their wider “mission”, says Wittman, with a large part also being a provider of a “safe, authentic” space.
“People are moving away from tools and services,” Wittman says, “where [they] have to create an alternate persona.”
This is true: in the past three years or so, social media users have openly craved truthfulness online and moved towards platforms that offer such. People are increasingly deleting Instagram, and shunning BeReal for purporting authenticity; aligned with this is the heightened need for platforms that allow for expression without pretense. Is VSCO this platform? For some, especially the creatives the app aspires to provide for, it may be a contender.
