Pinterest Concept: Improving image searching journey
By: Yein Lillian Lee
Tags: User Research, UX Design, Case Study, Pinterest, UX Research

Like many other Pinterest users, I collect images for inspiration and aesthetic purposes. However, I often find it difficult to find specific images that I would like to add to my collection. Navigating through Pinterest’s design layout to find an image that I like takes me approximately 10 minutes, leading me to resort to other search engines for ideas.

When I am searching for a specific image for an aesthetic collage or mood board, I find it difficult to find the image I am looking for because…

Many users aren’t comfortable sharing their pins and boards. It's difficult to find other collections of images with similar aesthetics.

Pinterest needs to be more social

Going into this, my original hypothesis was: If Pinterest is similar to other social media apps where users are able to openly share their interests and aesthetics, searching for specific images should be easy and convinient.

Current Search Result

Understanding why search results don’t show the right images

User Research

My goal was to learn about how users utilize and share their pins and boards. Here are some key insights:

1. Users mainly utilize Pinterest to create a personal collection of images, not to interact with other users.

“I don’t really interact with other people on it. I only use it to collect images.”

2. When users want to find other accounts, there is no way to do so other than through a direct link.

“I don’t find it easy to look people up. Last time, I tried to search for an influencer on Pinterest, but I had to give up”

3. Some users follow other accounts to tailor their feed.

“I follow to tailor my feed and stop when I have enough relevant contents”

4. Users find Pinterest time-consuming.

“I don’t use Pinterest daily basis. Maybe when I have down time.”

People want to find images without socializing

At first, I thought users had a hard time finding images because they weren’t sharing and socializing with other users. However, I later found out that users were merely using Pinterest to create a personal collection of images.

People want to collect images that fit into their personal interests and aesthetics, but the process is time-consuming.

My findings show that my initial hypothesis was incorrect. I discovered that people don’t want to share their collection and use Pinterest like other forms of social media.

Figuring out which feature space to improve

Brainstorming Session

Initial Brainstorm

I recruited a few of my friends and classmates, Emily Guo and Celina Kim, as my brainstorming buddies. After exploring, we decided to work on an opportunity:

Following and Follower: How might we encourage “private” users to be interested in other user’s content? Pin and Boards: How might we better understand what user’s aesthetics are? Search Results: How might we suggest relevant content that isn’t specifically searched for?

Suggesting users better opportunities

Initial Approach

My first iteration was focused on providing more space for users to express themselves and connect with other users. I designed features that encourage users to voluntarily provide more public information, thereby resulting in more information being searched.

Initial prototype for suggesting better opportunities

I decided that changing a users' reason for using Pinterest might be difficult; however, with improved content, users will naturally engage with other users’ content as well. As a result, I decided to add board suggestions to the search result because:

Board suggestions provide direct access to other users with similar interests and aesthetics. Board suggestions provide more images than individual pins. Users aren’t forced to engage with each other to get better content.

Instead of providing space for users to directly interact with each other, I decided to work on providing better features and have users interact through them.

How other products provide search results

The format of a search result is user group-specific.