Four years after the birth of VSCO Girl, VSCO wants you to know that she is still very much alive. Photographers and other aesthetically inclined creators continue to flock to the app's suite of tools, bringing joy to the editing process while providing the creative control that visual artists value.
If you wouldn't be surprised to use Mayfair, you're probably already familiar with VSCO's vast palette of lush, film-inspired filters. That vast collection of photo filters, along with the app's serene, vibe-filled design, make it a natural digital studio space for creators who still care a lot about the look and feel of what they post.
“They can be authentic, they can explore their creativity, and increasingly, they can connect with others and build a community around it and really pursue whatever goal or aspiration they have,” explains Eric Wittman, president of VSCO.
As social media tends toward the casual and chaotic, VSCO warriors around the world continue to meticulously white balance and A/B test images, adjusting hue and vibes alike before a single photo sneaks into their feed. from Instagram.
And while VSCO's photo-editing DNA runs deep, the app has learned a lot about its community over the years, including that users are increasingly looking for connections rather than simply hunkering down in their respective editing silos (although they're definitely still doing that, too.)
"A lot of people come because, you know, they love VSCO because of the filters," Wittman says. “They love the looks we offer, they love the high-quality content they see… However, what we are finding is that a lot of people met new people or were inspired by other people on VSCO, but had no real way to interact. with them".
VSCO set out to capture some of that emerging behavior and last year he launched Spaces, collaborative galleries where photographers can upload images around a theme and chat about their process ("Under the Hoop," a clever collection of basketball photos, is one of the most popular). By normal social media standards, VSCO is still downright antisocial - the chat features are very limited and happily don't encourage participation - but the app plans to slowly and deliberately weave in more ways for its creators to connect with one another.
“We still want to be that place of trust,” says Wittman. That's why we still don't like or comment. People come into VSCO... like, wow, I get to be myself here. I can learn from others. I can be inspired by others. And they don't judge me."
VSCO will allow users to share text-based posts in Spaces, marking a radical departure from VSCO's focus on visual art. The app will also allow users to message each other regardless of their tracking status. Paid subscribers (VSCO costs $7,99 per month or $29,99 per year) will receive unlimited messages, while free users will be able to start three new conversations a day with people who don't follow them. The continuation of conversations and responses will not be limited.
The app will also make it easier for Spaces users to share what's going on there beyond VSCO's very low-walled garden with new 9x16 auto-generated images, optimized for Instagram Stories and the like. Users will be able to fully preview Spaces before joining to get a feel for those communities without having to join and unjoin if they don't fit.
Other changes are mainly quality of life improvements, like batch uploads for Spaces and save drafts for Collage and Montage, VSCO's tools for overlaying images and stitching together photos and videos. The app will also launch eight new filters designed for video-focused creators (although VSCO primarily targets photographers, it also doesn't leave out those who enjoy video).
Most social apps focus on blocking exits and keeping reluctant people scrolling for as long as possible, but VSCO encourages its users to post beyond the app. It's ironic that VSCO—one of Instagram's main footholds—has long exuded the rare confidence of a product people are willing to pay for. Thoughtfully reflected at every level of the app's design, the company's ethos has little in common with the behavioral gimmicks and ad-supported feeds that have characterized long-dominant social apps.
With upcoming investments in cross-platform support, social features, and of course its core creation tools, VSCO plans to give creators more to do in an app they already love to use.
“We were seeing people go to other platforms and get blinded by the light, you know, the algorithms and the ads,” Wittman explains. "But we want to encourage people to really stay on the platform now and continue to engage with those people who inspire you, who you're curious to learn from [and] build that true sense of community."
