Jason Van Horn

Betabrand Poo Emoji Shirt

June 5, 2018 by Jason Van Horn Leave a Comment

Betabrand is known for a slapstick approach to content storytelling, so when it came to coming up with how to present a shirt literally covered with poop emojis, the brainstorming session consisted of all sorts of juvenille ideas. One of them consisted of photoshopping studio photos of a model being flushed down a toilet.

Personally I was getting tired of the rampant potty humor and pushed for a presentation that was almost a complete 180 from what others were pitching. My concept: let the shirt itself be the humorous element and do something not at all expected from Betabrand. Why not shoot it in the style of a tv novella or soap opera? Add elements of drama and for a change, we would have our models demeanor be a bit more inline with conventional fashion photography.

Somehow I managed to convince the team to see my point of view on this one. It paid off, as the internet took the quees I had given them and ran with it as all the major blogs picked up the story. (Julie at BuzzFeed, you get me) The shirt has proved a big seller for Betabrand and is still in production. Although the usual photochop cheese has been added to the gallery after the fact, it remains as some of my favorite work I did for Betabrand during my tenure.

Select Web Coverage:

Buzzefeed — This is the Classiest Poop Shirt You’ll Ever Wear

Gizmodo — This Poop Emoji Shirt is Crap

CNet — Poop Emoji button-up shirt makes your wardrobe stink

AdWeek — Betabrand’s Latest Stunt: The Poop Emoji Shirt

The Guardian — The Poo Shirt (or the rise of emoji fashion)

The Verge — Here’s that poop emoji button up shirt you always wanted

Thrillist — This Poop Emoji Button Up Shirt Smells Like Sucess

Daily News — Smiling poop emoji shirt, matching sneakers a hit with online shoppers

Bosky x Betabrand: Wood Sunglasses Product Launch

June 9, 2015 by Jason Van Horn Leave a Comment

Case Study: Photography & Creative Direction

Bosky Optics is an Oregon-based company that creates sunglasses and snow goggles with natural and recycled materials. For this collaboration between Bosky and Betabrand we had less than a week to come up with a plan for creative direction and execute it.

Our concept: why not have models make of wood wearing wood sunglasses? This was a fun concept to run with. We had a make-up artist paint our models, then enhanced the photos in post production.

For this product launch, I took part in the creative direction and scouting locations, and did the studio and location photography with the help our stylist/ photo producer Megan. Our graphic designers helped with post production of the wood mannequin effects.

Collaborative Marketing: Betabrand x Torker

May 10, 2015 by Jason Van Horn Leave a Comment

As a consumer direct, online Clothing Company, Betabrand generally doesn’t invest marketing dollars into print advertising. In my PR efforts to promote our Bike to Work Collection I’m always looking for opportunities to expand our market reach and gain media placement, so when I saw an opportunity to partner with the team at Accel North America for Torker Bikes I jumped at it.

Betabrand STL Tyvek Windshell

January 7, 2015 by Jason Van Horn Leave a Comment

I don’t always have time to scout locations for Betabrand shoots as our release schedule is quite fast paced. Because of that, we often schedule shoots based on when we know the light is favorable, and shoot locally. If we need a specific setting, we’ll use Google Maps to plan locations.

I was looking forward to shooting the STL Tyvek Windshell, as aspirational lifestyle photography is near the top of my list in regards to subject matter. During our creative meeting I was given a mood board and a few locations were tossed out as possibilities. Fortunately I managed to get out on my bike and scouted out my preferred and chose an optimal time. The extra bit of preparation resulted in a set of images I was happy with, and when we were launching the product, we had a lot of great images to choose from.

You can view the Betabrand STL Tyvek Windshell at Betabrand.com.

Three-alarm fire in Soma

May 5, 2011 by Jason Van Horn Leave a Comment

While heading to a downtown San Francisco location for a Betabrand shoot, we came across major traffic on Folsom Street. It was from a massive blaze, with fire trucks coming in from everywhere. I’ve never actually seen a serious fire before— it was intense stuff.

Just found SFGate coverage on it here: SFGate. Since I had my camera on me, (as I almost always do these days) I documented it. While I saw at least three injuries, hopefully they all recover.

fire fighters hard at work attempting to contain the blaze

Coverage from Kron 4

Article on SFist

Cycling tools, part two – vector

September 26, 2010 by Jason Van Horn Leave a Comment

Last week I did a few drawings of bike tools in the sketchbook and painted them in photoshop for a project. This week I decided to draw them as vector drawings (using Adobe Illustrator) for more of an infographic approach.

Tools from my tool box, part two- vector style

Only a huge bike geek would have this much fun drawing bike tools, I know.