Personalizing Pins
This project was carried out as a part of the application for the 2021 cohort of Kleiner Perkins Design Fellows. (I got the fellowship!)
I prototyped and designed new ways for users to customize their boards when using Pinterest.
Duration: 4 days
Methods: User Research, Product Design, Motion Design
Tools: Figma, Pen & Paper
Team: Just me :)
Prompt: Redesign a feature from any of the companies participating in the Fellows Program. (I chose Pinterest!)
How might we give users more control over organization of their pins?
An option to disable, enable, or change position of the “All Pins” board.
Clicking “Customize” to access all reordering and layout changes on one interface.
Quick and dynamic layout updates for a seamless experience and easy decision making.
Overview
What’s Pinterest?
Pinterest is a visual discovery engine for finding ideas like recipes, home and style inspiration, and more.
When you discover Pins you love, save them to boards to keep your ideas organized and easy to find.*
*https://help.pinterest.com/en/guide/all-about-pinterest
As of 2020, 85% of Pinners are on mobile.*
For this reason I chose to study the mobile application for this design challenge.
*https://newsroom.pinterest.com/en/company
This is a summary of how I planned and executed the 4 day design sprint -
Research and Insights
I was challenged with finding impactful information in a short period of time. I did this using the following methods -
Informal Interviews
I spoke to friends that use Pinterest to understand their point of view.
An Instagram Survey
I asked my followers to share what they like and don’t like about Pinterest.
Online Reviews
I looked at some of the most recent reviews on the App Store.
These findings gave rise to some key insights -
Users come to Pinterest to relax, build vision boards and find inspiration.
Users are sometimes overwhelmed while using Pinterest because of several features and frequent updates.
Users are often disappointed by the number of advertisements as it disrupts their creative flow.
Users wish they could hide the “All Pins” board as it doesn’t serve them a purpose.
Users are particular about the appearance and organization of their boards.
I chose to redesign the way users organize their pins as it has the potential to address most of a users pain points and strengthen the impact of Pinterest’s mission.
Existing User Flow
I studied the current user flow for organizing boards and pins.
The following flow depicts the existing user experience and highlights pain points for someone looking to customize their boards and modify pin layouts.
Exploring Solutions
To target Pain Point #1 I created a feature to disable “All Pins” and the option to rearrange it’s position relative to other boards.
Within the edit layout feature for boards, Option 1 includes “All Pins” as a board for rearrangement and a check box to enable or disable it. Option 2 only includes a toggle for the “All Pins” board with no option to move it around.
“I can do more with the first one. And I won't mind the [All Pins] board as much if I can move it to the bottom.”
I chose to go with option 1 because it allows the most flexibility. A user can -
Keep the “All Pins” board
Disable the “All Pins” board
Change its position
To target Pain Point #2 I merged multiple routes for editing into one, accessed by a button named “Customize”.
As seen in the picture, I chose to merge functionality for the layout feature and the organize feature into one section called “Customize”.
On clicking customize a user will be able to -
Change the grid layout on a board.
Rearrange pins on a board.
This concept is further explored below while tackling pain points #3 and #4.
To target Pain Point #3 and #4 I prototyped new ways to update the grid layout.
Within the “Organize” interface, Option 1 has several grid options to choose from and Option 2 has a slider for similar functionality. Both options would impact only the board being edited and would maintain the ability to drag and rearrange pins. I shared my ideas with 2 Pinterest users and found that the fluidity of the transition between different states mattered more than the exact mechanism.
“Honestly, it depends on the animation and the preview that follows.”
I had to make a design decision here and chose to go with Option 1 because -
Smooth animations between states could be created while prototyping.
It is better suited for less than 5 discrete values.
It is familiar to users as a similar mechanism exists on some other products
Prototyping Solutions
The New Experience
Remove or Reorder the “All Pins” Board for maximum flexibility.
Click “Customize” to modify layouts and reorder pins from one interface.
Layout options update instantly for a seamless experience.
Closing thoughts
Thank you for making it till here! Here are a few final thoughts.
1
What did I learn through the process?
Telling the story is as important as the story itself. I had many ideas, made several decisions and gained multiple user insights. But none of it means anything unless I can articulate my process in a way that is easily understood by a third person.
2
What did I find the hardest about this design challenge?
The fact that it was a “redesign” was the hardest for me. Pinterest has an amazing, skilled team that works towards building the product - for every problem or opportunity that I found I had to think about why a solution didn’t already exist. What were the possible constraints? Had I just not found the feature? It was difficult for me, a new designer, to put myself in the shoes of a product lead at Pinterest.
3
What would I do if I had more time?
I would try applying some similar concepts to the desktop version of Pinterest to maintain consistency across both platforms. It would also be a priority to test the concept with a larger group of users. I would also like to explore more ways for users to make their boards their own.
4
Why did I choose Pinterest?
While looking at the companies participating in the Fellows program I knew I wanted to study a consumer facing product that had universal impact. Pinterest seemed like the perfect option! It’s also one of my dream companies and I wanted to challenge myself to improve the product. Lastly, I kept in mind that I would need access to a few users of the product.
Behind the Scenes
Design is a messy process (and I love it this way!).
Here’s an image to give you a peek into how my designs came to be.
