3. ABOUT PINTEREST
Pinterest is a visual bookmarking tool that helps you discover, save, collect and share creative ideas and images.
Users generally use it as an online mood board to keep their findings stored. Boards are created through a user
selecting an item, page, website, etc. and pinning it to an existing or newly created board. Users save and share pins
from multiple resources onto boards based on specific and personalised criteria.
PROBLEMS WITH THE APP
When using the mobile app we were able to identify some of the main issues regarding user experience, which were:
- Alerts: the app will show specific alerts of new pins in the app’s logo, but then once the
user is in the app it won’t tell to what is referring, where the new pins may be or if there are new messages.
- Freezes or crashes: while loading new pins the app will freeze or automatically shut down.
- Edit pins: the app doesn’t allow to edit pins before you “pin” them. The user has to go back into their profile page to
edit and pin from there.
- Board search: it becomes difficult to find boards within your own profile. There is not an option that allows you to
scroll in alphabetical order or any other. The users finds himself in the situation of constantly scrolling down until the
board is found.
- Pins: User can't see what they are typing in the caption of the pin
- Boards recommendations: There's no related board recommendations
- Load new pins: the app doesn’t give an easy set of instructions to go through the basic
features of the app, such as loading new pins.
- Search engines: the app presents two different set of search engines only in the user’s profile page. Each search
takes the user to a different search experience. Once the search option of the bottom menu is clicked, there is no
“cancel” button that takes you back. The only way out is by clicking again in the profile icon.
- Following users: when looking for “following users”, the app doesn’t provide you with a brief explanation or caption
about the user, that could be helpful when deciding who to follow.
- Comments: when writing a comment, the app redirects the user to a new page, not displaying the picture the user
wants to write about. To see a previous users comments are unnecessary
and could be removed with the same general feel.
- Settings: there are two ways to access to the “edit profile” menu through the profile page.
When looking at the pins, those options are not visible.
4. - Likes: The likes function of Pinterest seems counterintuitive,because the main function of
Pinterest is to create your own sort of mood boards on your own page, and see what others
are pinning on the home page, to add to your own mood board. While the “like”
function is one that makes sense on other apps, with Pinterest, it seems a little unnecessary
as the liked pin is not added to your boards.
- Messages: the “Messages” function is a newer one and well it follows along the line of other
apps, it does need some tweaks. Sending someone a pin they might like is a nice feature that
has potential, but the idea that users might continue talking back and forth on Pinterest is a
little unrealistic, as it is far from the mission of the app.
- You: the “You” feed could be either given less of a spotlight or fixed to only show when those
you follow like or repin your pin. Most of the time, these pins are repinned by strangers, who
you aren’t following and have no interest in following.
- News: the news feed displays anyone you follow or who pins something, which also shows up
on your home page, on the feed, making the News function kind of redundant.
- Web source: For many Pinterest users, the app is a great place to find great products in one
place without having to check out multiple site for products. The information on each
individual pin’s page contains where the pin is from. This information should be more
prominent.
- Everything: the “Everything”option on the categories menu is possibly not needed. At the top
of the menu it clearly reads “All Categories”.
- Videos: this would make more sense as a separate feature of Pinterest instead of part of a
category. Could this be added to the bottom menu?
9. TARGET ANALYSIS
Pinterest identified that many female users of sites like Facebook were repeatedly sharing and
commenting on consumer products, event-related images like wedding photos and dresses, and a
variety of other trends, fashions, consumer items, etc. Coupling this realization with a slickly
designed user interface, that allows users to simply “pin” images they like to personal “boards” that
they can share with fellow users, Pinterest has since exploded among its target demographic; young,
motivated, and outgoing young women, a market demographic that causes social media gurus and
marketing executives to slaver at the mouth with long term monetary potential.
SEE MORE AT:
http://capitalistcreations.com/how-pinterest-creat-
ed-its-own-niche-market-from-facebook-users/#sthash.Hos9ZuYT.dpuf
10. REVENUE
After more than four years of operation, Pinterest has finally decided it’s time to make some money.
The social media company is beginning to sell ads — what it’s calling “promoted pins” — to select
marketers from companies like Gap, Kraft, Target, and ABC Family.
Originally announced in September 2014, promoted pins will now begin to show up in Pinterest’s
search and category feeds. The native ad unit is intended to be “tasteful, transparent, [and] relevant,”
said product manager Julie Black on the Pinterest blog.
11. Fancy is a social networking and shopping platform that allows users to
discover and buy things curated by a global community. Sellers have the
ability to create widgets to sell items directly from their personal websites.
Like Pinterest, Fancy has a browser button that users can install. So, if you’re
browsing the internet and find something you like, then you can “Fancy” it
instead of “Pinning” it. It is available on your computers, smartphones,
tablets, Smart TVs, and the Google Glass.
12. We Heart It is a social networking and photo-sharing platform that allows
users to find inspiration by browsing through images and connecting with
other users. Users can curate their inspirations by building collections. Like
Pinterest, We Heart It has a browser button that users can install. Instead of
“Pinning" something, users can “Heart” something on any website they
browse. We Heart It has a partnership with VigLink to automatically affiliate
their commercial links. They get paid if a user clicks one of those links and
purchase a product or service.
13. With Instagram, users can take pictures or video, choose a filter to
transform the look, then post them. Users can also like and comment on
posts from other users and follow them. Posts can be shared to social
networks. Instagram has 300 million monthly active users, 30+ billion
shared photos, an average of 70 million photos shared daily, 2.5 billion
likes with 70% of users from outside of the U.S. They partner with brands
to generate revenue with Sponsored Posts. They recently introduced
Verified Badges to identify public figures and brands. Instagram is
available on the web and as apps on iPhones and Android phones.
15. Visibility of system status
There are number of issues that Pinterest faces
within this heuristic. As far as updates the app
performs, Pinterest continues to improve their
interface, but won’t notify the user of the changes
made so they can only be recognized if you stum-
ble upon them. Additionally, at startup Pinterest
needs a set of initial instructions so new users
are familiarized with how the app works and the
language within it.
16. Match Between System and
the Real World
Pinterest does a pretty good job of matching its
system to the real world, with one major excep-
tion with comes in the form of the app’s language.
Within Pinterest there are a number of terms that
don’t appear within other apps and that a new user
would not automatically understand. For example
the phrases “pin” and “repin” are main staples of
the app, but are not common knowledge.
17. User Control and Freedom
Within the User Control and Freedom Heuristic
there are a myriad of issues. It becomes difficult to
find boards within your own profile. There is not an
option that allows you to scroll in alphabetical or-
der or any other. The users finds himself in the sit-
uation of constantly scrolling down until the board
is found and has a hard time understanding how
to get move around the app. The app presents two
different set of search engines only in the user’s
profile page. Each search takes the user to a dif-
ferent search experience. Once the search option
of the bottom menu is clicked, there is no “cancel”
button that takes you back. The only way out is by
clicking again in the profile icon. When cancel but-
tons do appear, they are all completely different.
Tagging in pins are similar to “messages”.
18. Consistency and Standards
There are a number of issues with consitency with-
in Pintertest. Go back/Cancel buttons are different in
some sections. An arrow in one, “Cancel” in another,
and a click away fuction in another section-this is re-
ally confusing for the user.
Two different Search buttons only visible in the user
profile, which you have to stumble upon.
“News” shows the same information displayed in
the Home feed and should be completely eliminat-
ed.There are two ways to access to the “edit profile”
menu through the profile page. When looking at the
pins, those options are not visible. The Typefaces are
also not consistent–The categories board presents
us with a bold typeface while the rest of the app has
small more delicate typefaces. The help menu looks
nothing like the rest of the app.
19. Error Prevention
Some images take to dead links; Maybe there is a
way to prevent from getting the users there.
“Send” button does not show how to send messages
or images, taking the user to send them to the wrong
person or through a different way.
20. Recognition Rather than
Recall
Not very many issues here, the app’s main menu is
simple to move around once you have used it once
(disregarding the consistency of the menu)
21. Flexibility and Effeciency of
Use
Pin shortcuts are not specified, you need to either
know about them or stumble upon them. The app has
features to make things easier but does not specify
how to do them. As an example, holdingn down each
pin presents a new menu with shortcuts to “pin” “like”
and “send” the pin, but these are already options on
pages so this is redudant. The “send” function works
about half the time and requires too many steps to
complete actions.
22. Aesthetic and Minimalist
Design
Aestihetically Pinterest is pretty well done, the main
issue is really the typeface on the categories page,
which is much too bold for the rest of the app and
seems misplaced.
23. Help users recognize, diagnose,
and recover from errors
404 errors” may be displayed if a pin leads to a dead
page, leaving the user with no information of what
was the cause of the error.
24. Help and documentation
The Help Center is a major issue with the Pinterest
app. First off, the help center is outsite the app; if
you need help you are directed to the pinterest web-
site. Once you reach the help center is doesn’t even
look like the rest of the app, the fonts are different,
the images are more cartoon-like than the rest of the
app. There is also a video within the help center that
shows you have to use the app, something that would
be better suited for a start up menu. The help menu
button is also only found on each users profile, not on
the main page, where you would expect it to be.
26. PINTEREST’S FINANCIALS
How Pinterest makes money:
After more than four years of operation, Pinterest has finally decided it’s time to make some money.
The social media company is beginning to sell ads — what it’s calling “promoted pins” — to select marketers from companies like Gap,
Kraft, Target, and ABC Family.
Originally announced in September 2014, promoted pins will now begin to show up in Pinterest’s search and category feeds. The native ad
unit is intended to be “tasteful, transparent, [and] relevant,” said product manager Julie Black on the Pinterest blog.
Target Breakdown:
In this case, Pinterest identified that many female users of sites like Facebook were repeatedly sharing and commenting on consumer
products, event-related images like wedding photos and dresses, and a variety of other trends, fashions, and consumer items. Coupling
this realization with a slickly designed user interface, that allows users to simply “pin” images they like to personal “boards” that they can
share with fellow users, Pinterest has since exploded among its target demographic; young, motivated, and outgoing young women, a
market demographic that causes social media gurus and marketing executives to slaver at the mouth with long term monetary potential.
- See more at: http://capitalistcreations.com/how-pinterest-created-its-own-niche-market-from-facebook-users/#sthash.Hos9ZuYT.dpuf
28. USER INTERVIEWS
Hello and welcome to usability testing! You have received a copy of this script so you can
follow along. Before we begin, I have some information for you. You probably already
have a good idea why I asked you here, but let me go over it again briefly. I’m asking
people to try using a mobile application that I’m redesigning, so I can identify its current
advantages and disadvantages. This session should take about 15 – 20 minutes.
Preliminary Questions
1. How old are you?
2. Where are you from?
3. What do you do for a living?
4. What do you do to take your mind off work?
5. Have you ever use Pinterest?
Yes. How often do you use it? What for?
No. Why?
Tasks
- Task 1: Send a Message
Scenario: You just found a great new pin on Pinterest and are dying to send it over
to a friend. Send this pin to them in a message.
- Task 2: Search for help within the application
Scenario: You are a relatively new user to Pinterest and you are a little confused
by some of the features the app provides. In order to get more clarity on your
questions access the help center.
29. - Task 3: Use pin shortcuts
Scenario: While scrolling through Pinterest on a short lunch break you find a
great Pin. You want to quickly repin this great find and add it to one of your
boards. Find a pin shortcut to quickly add this pin to one of your boards.
- Task 4: Tag someone in a pin
Scenario: You have just discovered a hilarious pin your best friend would love. In
order to call their attention to this app, tag your friend on this pin.
- Task 5: Create a board and pin an image
Scenario: You have just downloaded Pinterest new app. You are new to the system
but want to start right away. Try creating a board and pinning an image to it.
31. Name Christian Charite Kyle Abby Beatriz Anuje Harold Michael April Cindy Melissa Sean
Age 27 24 26 25 24 25 18 17 21 51 28 33
From? Chicago D.C. Atlanta Australia
Dominican
Republic
Pakistan Savannah Savannah New York Virginia Georgia Georgia
Occupation
Performing
Arts
student /
waiter
Film
student /
retail
Film student
Graphic
Design
student
Themed
Entertainme
nt Design
student
Fashion
Design
student
Sound
Design
student
Highschool
student
Animation
student
Human
Resources
Customer
service
Bartender
Hobby
Running /
singing
Social media
Video
games /
anime / read
graphic
novels
Netflix
Watch tv
series
Watch tv /
read/ go out
DJ / Music
production
Music
production
Video games Reading
Cooking /
play with
dogs /
shopping
Cooking /
Home
brewing
(beer)
Pinterest
user?
Yes
Twice
Research
Yes
Monthly
Browsing
Yes
Twice
Yes
Weekly
Inspiration,
DIY, recipes
No
Has too
many apps
already
Yes (desktop)
Look at
images,
research
No
Thought it
was for
females
No
Thought it
was for
females
No
Wasn’t
interested
No
Too
complicated
Yes
Weekly
Cooking
recipes,
house
inspiration
Yes
Twice
Cooking
TASK 1:
Board & Pin
- Scroll
down
through
images
- User
- Create
board
- Pin image
through
home
- Search
- Profile
- Create
board
- Pin image
from
home
- main
buttons
- Home
- Click Pin.
Pin it
- Create
new board
from pin
- Search
- Home
- Found
shortcut
by
accident
- Use
shortcut
- Gave up
- Tried to
create
board
through
pins.
- Didn’t
know what
to do.
- Profile
- plus
- Create
board
- Clicked
images.
Didn’t
understan
d what to
do
- Profile
- Hit plus
- Create
board
- Clicked
images.
- Pin
images
- Profile
page
- Plus
- Create
board
- Clicked
images.
- Pin
images
TASK 2: Help
- Profile
- Settings
- Help
- Search for
help
- Profile
- Settings
- Help
- Profile
- Settings
- Help
- Profile
- Settings
- Help
- Home
- Scroll
images to
find an
answer
- Profile
- Settings
- Help
- Search for
help
- Profile
- Settings
- Help
- Home
- Scroll
images to
find an
answer
- Profile
- Settings
- Help
- Profile
- Settings
- Help
- Search for
help
- Profile
- Settings
- Help
- Search for
help
- Profile
- Settings
- Help
- Profile
- Settings
- Help
- Search for
help
- Profile
- Settings
- Help
Name
INTERVIEW ANALYSIS
32. TASK 3 : Pin
shortcuts
- Pin the
regular way
- Didn’t find
- Gave up
- Pin the
regular way
- Pin the
regular
way
- Held down
pin
- Clicked
around
images
- Picked for
you
- Held down
pin
- Held down
pin
- Didn’t find
- Gave up
- Didn’t find
- Gave up
- Didn’t find
- Thought
Pin it
button was
decorative
- Double
tapping
- Didn’t find
- Held down
pin
- Used
apple
shortcuts
- Didn’t
work
TASK 4 : Tag
- (…)
- Gave up
- pin
shortcuts
- click pin
- Comments
- @ id
- Couldn’t
figure it
out
- Gave up
- Couldn’t
figure it
out
- Gave up
- Send as
message
- Followers
- Friends
profile
- Flag
- click pin
- Paper
plane
button
- Send as
message
- Click pin
- Comments
- @ id
- shortcut
- couldn’t
figure it
out
- + button
from
profile
- click pin
- Comments
- @ id
- click pin
- Comment
s
- @ id
TASK 5:
Send a
message
- clicked all
main
buttons
- couldn’t
do it
- click pin
- paper
plane
button
- click pin
- paper
plane
button
- click pin
- paper
plane
button
- paper
plane
button
- send as
email
- click pin
- paper
plane
button
- profile
- plus
- photo
Comments
Confused by
the functions
Didn't like
app
Too much
going on.
Why isn’t
there
something
on the top
(navigation)
Christian Charite Kyle Abby Beatriz Anuje Harold Michael April Cindy Melissa SeanName
33. USER INTERVIEWS INSIGHTS
After we all went out and interviewed three people, and we came back together to compile
our data, a few things became very clear. First off, The Pinterest icons are a big issue for
users, and because of this, locating specific items is not intuitive. Users had a hard time
with the Help Center fuction, as we suspected they would, althought not in the way we
suspected. While all of us are used to the current Pinterest layout, and know where to go if
we need to reach the Help Center (outside the app, albiet), users seem to be using the
search function to actually search the phrase “help.” This does not end up helping them in
any way becuase a quick search of the word “help” simply brings up pins about self-help,
quotes about life, and information about personal crisis. Another Interesting thing we didn’t
see coming was what users were trying in terms of shortcuts. While interviewing users
about tasks we noticed they were trying to use Apple shortcuts and were coming up with no
results, as the two are not linked. Overall, it was very interesting to see how a variety of
users was using Pinterest, from novice to expert level.
35. PERSONAS
User group
Pinterest is a visual discovery tool that can be used to find ideas
for projects and interests. It is currently one of the most used
image search tools, allowing its users to create and store the
information desired. Pinterest’s wide selection of categories
allows for it to attract different users, that vary from age group,
occupation and interests.
Primary: The“Eclectics”
College and young students that use
Pinterest’s tool for image research,
inspiration, and for everyday activities
related to fashion, home decoration...
Active Pinterest users; visit the app
more than three times a week.
Secondary: The“Homebuilders”
Home mothers, or mothers working
part-time while they also take care of
their children. Usually have children in
the 3-15 age group. Come to Pinterest
for DIY ideas, quick recipes for their
family on the go, quick parenting hacks.
Tertiary: The“Tastemakers”
Brands who are looking to expand their
brand or reach a larger and new kind of
consumer. Come to Pinterest focused on
the new promoted pins, or to pin their
popular or new products hoping to draw
attention back to their store-both from
already loyal and new customers
* Each persona was determined based on research and actual target users of Pinterest
36. PRIMARY PERSONA
Kloe Mason
New York City | Age 24
Khloe is a graduate student living in New York City. She goes to school full time at Pratt
Institute and works part time as a Sales associate at Uniqlo. She lives with a roommate she
met while in undergrad. Her parents live in Silver Springs, Maryland. Khloe is getting her
Masters in Illustration in hopes to be a children’s book illustrator. She has one older sister
and a younger brother.
Khloe maintains a full schedule. She is in school from 12pm-5pm every Monday through
Thursday and works 6-10 everyday Thursday and Friday. Whenever she has free time, she
likes to squeeze in yoga classes, DIY projects and social events.
End Goal
Decorate her Lower East Side apartment in
DIY projects and be inspired to illustrate.
Experience Goals
Be able to be inspired by others work for
future projects, look at different healthy
recipes, fashion looks, and home décor.
User overview
- Motivated to use Pinterest because it
allows her to see how others use their free
time and it allows her to share interest with
her friends and family.
- The application allows Khloe to share
interest with her mother, sister and friends.
- Khloe is trying hard to be inspired and get
her life organizes with the help of the
application.
Scenario
After a long day at Pratt and a few hours of work, Khloe gets home and wants to unwind in
her New York apartment with a takeout sandwich and a glass of inexpensive wine. Upon
getting home and looking around Khloe realizes she would love to add a few more touches to
her apartment to make it look a little more homey. Khloe opens up Pinterest with the inten-
tion of looking into home decor. At the bottom of the main page Khloe looks down to see the
menu and taps the spyglass icon to search for home decor. Looking through the categories
Khloe taps “Home Decor” and is directed to a new feed of decor with a smaller menu up top
with more refined sub-categories of decor. Scrolling horizontally along the sub-menu Khloe
comes across the “Industrial Decor” category. Inspired by the streets of New York and the
cities modernist architecture, Khloe is immediately drawn to this style of decor. She clicks on
a pin of a simple iron and wood bookshelf that would be perfect for her living area. Khloe
clicks on the pin and realizes she doesn’t have a board set up for this style of home furnish-
ings. On the pop up menu for the pin she taps the small board icon in the right top corner
and creates a new board called “Home Sweet Home” and pins the bookshelf to the new
board, excited about the potential for her apartment.
37. SECONDARY PERSONA
Elizabeth Stevens
Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Age 37
Elizabeth is a stay-at-home mom; she has two children, 9 year old Kate and 3 year old Dylan.
She decided to be a stay-at-home mom after having the second child. She is married to
Jason who is a 38 year old software engineer. She used to be an interior designer. Elizabeth
has a very routine schedule. Throughout the week she takes 9 year old Kate to school at 8:00
am and picks her up at 3:00 pm. In between those times she looks after 3 year old Dylan,
takes care of chores around the house, and makes occasional trips to grocery stores and
home supply stores. On weekends Jason looks after the kids for the majority of the time.
Every Saturday morning she goes to her favorite coffee shop to sit and read for a while.
End Goal
To decorate her newly bought home with
DIY projects that are kid-friendly.
Experience Goals
Elizabeth wants to be able to rely on Pinter-
est to inspire her when she has so many
other tasks to accomplish.
User overview
- Enjoys using Pinterest because she can
multitask and not have to worry about
keeping track of ideas.
- She likes using Pinterest because it
allows her to keep all of her inspirations
neatly organized in one place. She also likes
the fact that her Home Feed seems to cater
to her evolving interests.
Scenario
Elizabeth is happy the week is over to say the least. Hoping to unwind she heads to the
corner coffee shop with the newest romance novel that was recommended at Barnes &
Noble and her headphones to get in some much needed “me” time. Before she left she took
a quick glance around her house, to make sure the kids hadn’t drawn on the walls
or set anything on fire and noticed not only the weeks mess everywhere but that her living
room was looking a little empty and sterile. While she waits for her Americano, Elizabeth
pulls out her phone and opens up Pinterest, wasting time. While scrolling through her main
feed she finds dining room chairs that are perfect for her. Oak farm style chairs with tufted
sea foam cushions are perfect for her accident prone children as well as stylish enough to
show off to her girlfriends when they come over for wine and lasagna next weekend. Clicking
on the pin she immediately pins the image to her board “Run by Jason” in addition to other
home items she needs to make sure they growing family has money to afford. Glancing over
the image once more, Elizabeth thinks that somehow this will make it to the top of the list,
some way or another.
38. TERTIARY PERSONA
Charlotte Collins
Los Angeles, California | Age 33
Charlotte is a Social Media Manager of a renown retail company. Everyday she wakes up
early, exercises in the morning and leaves for work. As an active woman, Charlotte usually
walks for work, not before picking up her usual latte at her favorite coffee shop. At night, she
enjoys watching movies at home, a hobbie she shares with her boyfriend and friends. During
the weekends she goes out with friends to festivals, cultural activities offered by the city or
movie outings. As a Social Media Manager she’s always been interested in the latest media
trends, and therefore, has always been able to identify the most effective way to communi-
cate with the consumers.
End Goal
Attract customers to buy more products
Pinterest analytics for brand analysis
Experience Goals
Be able to get quickly through the app while
uploading pictures. Explore through other
brands profiles easily
User overview
- Uses Pinterest daily as part of her job
-Discovered Pinterest as a way to inspire
customers and tell a visual trend story
- Follows her competition to identify ways of
improvement
- More than an app, she considers Pinterest
a market strategy
Scenario
Charlotte’s day has been a complete blur. She was running late for her morning spin class
and barely got her latte in time for work, only making it to the office in time to hurry into her
Monday morning meeting with her team. It has been a long week for Charlotte and she is
definitely ready for this weekend’s music festival, but needs to get through one more night of
work before she can focus elsewhere. The clothing company Charlotte works for is a com-
plete dream job, and she has no issue working from home after she leaves the office to finish
putting up a few new items for the Spring 2015 collection onto Pinterest to attract a new
group of customers. Because Charlotte is no stranger to Pinterest and she is trying to get
her work done quickly, she uses the shortcuts regularly. Charlotte already has the photos of
the new products she needs to add to her company’s Pinterest profile in her camera roll, so
she quickly navigates to their profile and clicks the “+” button on the top menu. To be more
efficient she decides to write the descriptions after she uploads all the photos. After adding
about fifty photos to her board “Spring 2015” she decides its time to add in comments about
the prices and availability. Looking at each image that she pinned she quickly holds down
each image, selects the pencil icon and adds in the extra info. In no time she is done and
able to go to bed early in order to get up for her morning three mile run before work.
46. PROBLEM PERSONA
Kloe Mason
New York City | Age 24
Khloe is a graduate student living in New York City. She goes to school full time at Pratt
Institute and works part time as a Sales associate at Uniqlo. She lives with a roommate she
met while in undergrad. Her parents live in Silver Springs, Maryland. Khloe is getting her
Masters in Illustration in hopes to be a children’s book illustrator. She has one older sister
and a younger brother.
Khloe maintains a full schedule. She is in school from 12pm-5pm every Monday through
Thursday and works 6-10 everyday Thursday and Friday. Whenever she has free time, she
likes to squeeze in yoga classes, DIY projects and social events.
End Goal
Decorate her Lower East Side apartment in
DIY projects and be inspired to illustrate.
Experience Goals
Be able to be inspired by others work for
future projects, look at different healthy
recipes, fashion looks, and home décor.
User overview
- Motivated to use Pinterest because it
allows her to see how others use their free
time and it allows her to share interest with
her friends and family.
- The application allows Khloe to share
interest with her mother, sister and friends.
- Khloe is trying hard to be inspired and get
her life organizes with the help of the
application.
Problem Scenario
It has been a long week for Khloe Mason. After a full week of classes, Khloe could not be
more excited that she has finally reached Friday. As her lasts class winds down, Khloe
pictures herself lounging at home or taking a long walk outside in the park. These
daydreams are unfortunately interrupted by her professor, who tells her class they need to
generate ideas for a branding project by Monday. When Khloe gets home from class she
opens up Pinterest on her iPhone for inspiration, hoping to create a mood board to work off
of. Khloe quickly realizes none of the shortcuts she normally uses on other applications are
working to create a new Pinterest board. As she hasn’t used Pinterest in two weeks, she
goes to her own profile and glances at her boards, but as they are already created, realizes
she is completely blanking on where to go to create her new mood board for class.
47. SECONDARY PROBLEM PERSONA
Elizabeth Stevens
Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Age 37
Elizabeth is a stay-at-home mom; she has two children, 9 year old Kate and 3 year old Dylan.
She decided to be a stay-at-home mom after having the second child. She is married to
Jason who is a 38 year old software engineer. She used to be an interior designer. Elizabeth
has a very routine schedule. Throughout the week she takes 9 year old Kate to school at 8:00
am and picks her up at 3:00 pm. In between those times she looks after 3 year old Dylan,
takes care of chores around the house, and makes occasional trips to grocery stores and
home supply stores. On weekends Jason looks after the kids for the majority of the time.
Every Saturday morning she goes to her favorite coffee shop to sit and read for a while.
End Goal
To decorate her newly bought home with
DIY projects that are kid-friendly.
Experience Goals
Elizabeth wants to be able to rely on Pinter-
est to inspire her when she has so many
other tasks to accomplish.
User overview
- Enjoys using Pinterest because she can
multitask and not have to worry about
keeping track of ideas.
- She likes using Pinterest because it
allows her to keep all of her inspirations
neatly organized in one place. She also likes
the fact that her Home Feed seems to cater
to her evolving interests.
PROBLEM SCENARIO
Elizabeth has been burning the midnight oil trying to get her kids in bed, their lunches
packed for tomorrow, and herself a class of wine to relax with before she misses her favorite
show yet again. As she sits down the week is still swirling around in her head and she realiz-
es she never planned out her dinners for the rest of the week. Clicking on the TV and pouring
a class of her favorite red wine, Elizabeth opens up the Pinterest app her on iPhone to look
for recipe ideas-she can’t have spaghetti for the 3rd time this week. While trying to repin a
pin of a great looking butternut squash soup, Elizabeth realizes her pins link is broken. She
immediately decided to ask for help. Elizabeth goes to the search bar at the top of the main
feed and types in “help” which only brings up more pins about self-help articles. This is not
what Elizabeth is looking for. After clicking on her profile, she notices a small gear icon on
the top right corner and clicks it, this gives her the option of selecting the help center, which
she navigates to.
48. TERTIARY PROBLEM PERSONA
Charlotte Collins
Los Angeles, California | Age 33
Charlotte is a Social Media Manager of a renown retail company. Everyday she wakes up
early, exercises in the morning and leaves for work. As an active woman, Charlotte usually
walks for work, not before picking up her usual latte at her favorite coffee shop. At night, she
enjoys watching movies at home, a hobbie she shares with her boyfriend and friends. During
the weekends she goes out with friends to festivals, cultural activities offered by the city or
movie outings. As a Social Media Manager she’s always been interested in the latest media
trends, and therefore, has always been able to identify the most effective way to communi-
cate with the consumers.
End Goal
Attract customers to buy more products
Pinterest analytics for brand analysis
Experience Goals
Be able to get quickly through the app while
uploading pictures. Explore through other
brands profiles easily
User overview
- Uses Pinterest daily as part of her job
-Discovered Pinterest as a way to inspire
customers and tell a visual trend story
- Follows her competition to identify ways of
improvement
- More than an app, she considers Pinterest
a market strategy
PROBLEM SCENARIO
Charlotte has been waiting all day to sit down. She has rushed from meeting to meeting all
day, notebooks and laptop in hand, dying for a comfortable chair and a cup of afternoon
coffee. Her last meeting is a brand strategy meeting, where her and her coworkers discuss
reaching a broader audience, and how this is achievable through different apps. While talking
about Pinterest, Charlotte brings up creating pins that encourage users to comment and
leave their thoughts on the products they are posting. Pulling up Pinterest on her iPhone to
show her employers, Charlotte adds a pin from their F/W photoshoot they completed earlier
this week and goes back to the main page to see that is was posted. Navigating back to their
company’s page, she doesn’t see the pin, and uses the search function to look for it. Nothing
comes up. Charlotte wishes there was an easier way to find the sweater she just posted and
realizes she has no tags saved.
53. FLOWCHART INSIGHTS
Flowcharts were an important part of our process along the way and really helped us figure
out how users were really navigating around Pinterest. While the perfect flowcharts helped
us see what Pinterest expected users to do, our Problem Scenario flowcharts really helped
put into perspective what a “normal” user could encounter when navigating around Pinter-
est. These problem scenario’s really helped us understand what was working, what wasn’t,
and what direction our final flowcharts needed to take.
67. PAPER TESTING INSIGHTS
Paper Testing was an interesting process for us. As we purposely chose a well-designed
app to redesign because it was harder to find the flaws in it, it was really interesting to see
what changes the Pinterest team was missing out on, and alot of this came in the form of
buttons and icons. Through paper testing we learned a lot about direction, and where
things should be, which really helped us in terms of categories, the search funtion, and our
newly added function-tagging. We realized through interviewing different users and having
them interact with our prototype that searching for their one own pins, amongst their
extensive list of items pinned, was not working and we needed a system of categorizing
these pins. Working together we added the “tag” function which will aim to help users find
pins of similar categories. As an example, A user looking for a pin featuring a summer
dress they loved, can use tags like “summer” or “dress” or “clothing” to tag the pin, in
order to easily find this pin later amoungst all the others.
81. Added the option to
visualize pins from
your followers and pins
recommended by
Pinterest in separate
screens
Redesign of icons to
help them blend with
the overall look and
feel of the app.
Breakfast
Cat Lady
Waking up
200 75
Donuts
Nasty Gal
Just Sayin’
13 7
Minimal Books
Charlie Dean
Book Lover
10 1
Following Recommended
Added the option to
visualize pins from
your followers and pins
recommended by
Pinterest in separate
screens
Redesign of icons to
help them blend with
the overall look and
feel of the app.
Added the option to
visualize pins from
your followers and pins
recommended by
Pinterest in separate
screens
Redesign of icons to
help them blend with
the overall look and
feel of the app.
OLD INTERFACE VS. NEW
Home
82. Added an “add” button
to perform basic tasks
such as add comments
or add images to
messages
Redesign of icons to
help them blend with
the overall look and
feel of the app.
from wakeandwhimsy.wordpress.com
Breakfast
Added 15 minutes ago from
wakeandwhimsy.wordpress.com
Added by Cat Lady
Unified the share icon
functions
OLD INTERFACE VS. NEW
Icons
83. Change the sharing
options and give it a
more consistent
treatment
from wakeandwhimsy.wordpress.com
Breakfast
Added 15 minutes ago from
wakeandwhimsy.wordpress.com
Added by Cat Lady
Share this pin
Twitter
Email
Facebook
OLD INTERFACE VS. NEW
Share
84. Added the comment
sections into the “add”
icon to make it easier
for the user,
eliminating the need to
scroll down to find the
option.
from wakeandwhimsy.wordpress.com
Breakfast
Added 15 minutes ago from
wakeandwhimsy.wordpress.com
Added by Cat Lady
Add
Comment
to Camera Roll
to Message
OLD INTERFACE VS. NEW
Comment
85. Redesign the
experience of adding
a comment by
including the image to
add a comment to.
Q W E R T Y U OI P
A S D F G H KJ
Z X C V B N M
L
space123 return
Enter
Add a Comment
Breakfast
Added 15 minutes ago from
wakeandwhimsy.wordpress.com
Added by Cat Lady
Added to Moments
Need to do this!...|
OLD INTERFACE VS. NEW
Add a Comment
86. Added the option of
tagging images to
facilitate future
searches
Added the option of
creating new board
before pinning the
image
from wakeandwhimsy.wordpress.com
Breakfast
Added 15 minutes ago from
wakeandwhimsy.wordpress.com
Added by Cat Lady
Pin Image
Breakfast
coffee, flowers
Choose a board
Create a board
Graphics
Beauty
Everything
Done
OLD INTERFACE VS. NEW
Tagging
87. Q W E R T Y U OI P
A S D F G H KJ
Z X C V B N M
L
space123 return
Done
Add a tag
Previous tags
Coffee
Coffee
Flowers
Flowers
White
Minimal
Summer Winter
Collage Fall
|
Q W E R T Y U OI P
A S D F G H KJ
Z X C V B N M
L
space123 return
Done
Add a tag
Previous tags
Coffee
Coffee
Flowers White
Minimal
Summer Winter
Collage Fall
|
Q W E R T Y U OI P
A S D F G H KJ
Z X C V B N M
L
space123 return
Done
Add a tag
|Type your new tag
Previous tags
Coffee Flowers White
Minimal
Summer Winter
Collage Fall
Created a system for tagging images using the user’s own language and
organization system with words.
OLD INTERFACE VS. NEW
Tagging
88. Change some of the
main visual attributes
to give a fresher look.
Reduced the size of the
search main menu as
it look disconnected
from the rest of the
app.
Highlighting the
current screen
All Categories
Popular
Everything
Gifts
Design
Architecture
Art
Cars
Celebrities
DIY & Crafts
Film
Search
OLD INTERFACE VS. NEW
Search/Categories
89. Added the options to
search withing the
user’s own pins and
board by using words
assigned in tags,
|Search for pins
Q W E R T Y U OI P
A S D F G H KJ
Z X C V B N M
L
space123 return
Pins Pinners Boards
Your Pins Your Board
OLD INTERFACE VS. NEW
Search
90. Unified the “News” and
“You” section and
converted into
“Notifications”
Notifications Messages
your Pin
2 hours ago
Cat Lady Pinned
your Pin
2 hours ago
Cameron Giles likes
Jessica Smith liked 3 Pins
Highlighting the
current screen
OLD INTERFACE VS. NEW
Notifications
91. Asiigned the message
area only for messages
between Pinterest
users
You are going to love this!
2 hours ago
Cat Lady
I wanted to invite you to...
5 hours ago
Amy Lin
Notifications Messages
Highlighting the
current screen
OLD INTERFACE VS. NEW
Messages
92. Unified the screen for
consistency purposes,
and to allow the user
to send a message by
using only one screen,
instead of two (choose
sender, write
message)
To: Jessica Smith
Q W E R T Y U OI P
A S D F G H KJ
Z X C V B N M
L
space123 return
Send
Hey Khloe! You should see the glitter...|
New message
OLD INTERFACE VS. NEW
Send a New Message
93. Eliminated the second
search button
Created a new icon
called “Pin from” that
allows to upload
images from photos
and web.
Added the “Create a
board” button at first,
eliminating the need to
scroll to the bottom of
the screen to find it.
Chicago | Pop Culture
Hilary Phillips
345
@hilaryph
Pins
25
Likes
128
Followers
185
Following
Create a board
Style
Edit
137
Travel 25 Office 10
Highlighting the
current screen
OLD INTERFACE VS. NEW
Profile/Icons
94. Added the “Pin from”
option to upload
images from photos,
locations and web.
Eliminated the “create
new board” option and
relocated it.
Chicago | Pop Culture
Hilary Phillips
345
@hilaryph
Pins
25
Likes
128
Followers
185
Following
Create a board
Style
Edit
137
Travel 25 Office 10
Pin from
Photos
Location
Web
OLD INTERFACE VS. NEW
Boards
95. Change the visual
attributes of the
screens for
consistency purposes
Added the main menu
to this section as well
Settings
Edit Profile
Account Settings
Find Friends
Terms and Privacy
Log out
Help Center
Highlighting the
current screen
OLD INTERFACE VS. NEW
Help Center
96. Introduced the Help
Center into the app (it
originally redirected
users to a website)
using the same visual
treatment.
Help Center
|Search for help
Browse Help Topics
A Guide to Pinterest
Fix a Problem
Added the main menu
to this section as well
Highlighting the
current screen
OLD INTERFACE VS. NEW
Help Center
