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Project Overview
New Pinterest Feature
For this project, I explored Pinterest's existing platform and conducted research to understand where the app could use improvement. I discovered that users have trouble organizing and remembering why they pinned items to their profile. To solve this issue, I created a new file for profile pins and added a feature allowing users to create a title tag and notes for their profile pins.
Tools
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Figma
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OtterAi
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Maze
Role
Sole designer and researcher (academic)
Personal Goals
Explore ideation techniques, effectively use the UI of an existing brand
Duration
2 Weeks
RESEARCH
Hypothesis
Pinterest is an app that allows users to find, create, and promote inspirational content and pin ideas to boards for reference. The amount of inspiration pinned to any given board can become overwhelming. It may be difficult for the user to narrow down their pins and create purposefully selected inspiration from large boards. The app may benefit from a feature which allows users to create a collage of selected pins so they can create a smaller, curated inspirational piece.
Research Goal
Interview existing users of Pinterest and understand how they use the app already, what they enjoy, and what they do not. Understand pain points and frustrations around creating boards and organizing pins. Find possible solutions for pain points and frustrations. Understand if my proposed solution is desirable or if there is another problem at hand.
Methdologies
1
Competitor Analysis
Analyze relevant competitive platforms
2
User Interviews
Identify pain points and user needs
3
Affinity Mapping
Synthesize findings and define the problem
Competitor Analysis
I identified three platforms with similar features to Pinterest.
About We Heart It
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An image based social network
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A platform to organize and share pictures and inspiration
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Currently has 45 million users
Strengths
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Has an explore feed for inspiration
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Users have the ability to edit photos in the app
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Users can create curated galleries
Weaknesses
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Primarily for photos and quotes, not used for sharing content such as recipes and DIY
Opportunities
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We heart it allows users to edit photos they save on the app. This feature could be something desirable to Pinterest users.
Identified Opportunities:
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A feature for photo or pin editing within the Pinterest app
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A feature allowing Pinterest creators to better engage with their followers (e.g., a question section)
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A feature that suggests popular posts when Pinterest users search for something
User Interviews
I then put together a 24 question interview script and conducted user interviews with 5 participants who had experience using the Pinterest app.
The results
Affinity Mapping
In order to get a deeper understanding of possible pain points, I conducted secondary research about Pinterest and added that data, along with the interview data into an affinity map and identified correlations.
* The Problem *
Pinterest users have difficulty organizing pins they pin to their profile and find it difficult to remember why they pinned something and where they may have wanted it to go.
Key Takeaways
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Some Pinterest users do not like putting pins into their boards right away because their boards can then become "cluttered"
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Users find that when they save pins to their profile it can be difficult to sort through them and remember why they pinned them and where they may have wanted them to go
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A significant amount of negative reviews of Pinterest are consistent with these findings
Pain Points
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Frustration with the lack of organization tools for sorting through pins pinned to their profile
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Difficulty remembering why they saved certain pins to their profile and where they may have wanted them to go
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Frustration around not having other organization options than profile pins and boards
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Difficulty finding saved pins without a search feature
Potential Features
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User labelling and descriptions for saved pins
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A separate "general" pins file for pins saved to the profile
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A favorite button to allow users to "love" pins they save
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A search for pins saved to the profile
Limitations:
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SEO can be an expensive feature to add
User Persona
Before moving on, I created a user persona representative of my interview sample.
IDEATION
Ideation Techniques
1
POV & HMW
Turn insights into opportunities
2
Bundle Ideas
Combine ideas for a well-rounded solution
Point of View Statements & How Might We Questions
I wrote 5 POV statements to help me explore goal-oriented solutions.
Using my POV statements as a guide, I wrote out 6 actionable HMW questions.
Bundle Ideas
Next, I used 3 of my HMW questions and took to paper to sketch three different solutions for my problem and then bundled ideas together to create a well rounded solution.
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How might we create space for Pinterest users to log the details of why they pinned certain items and where they may want the items to go so that they can easily go through their saved pins and remember why they pinned them and what for?
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How might we allow Pinterest users to organize their pins in new ways other than using profile pins and boards so that they can easily separate and find the pins they like the most?
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How might we separate Pinterest user's general pins from the "all pins" section so that they can easily find the pins they have saved that are not in boards and organize them?
The Solution​
Creating a separate file for "unorganized pins" and adding a labelling feature for saved profile pins.
How this feature could improve the user experience​
1) Giving unorganized pins their own file allows users to use their “profile pins” as more of a resource rather than a bunch of random pins at the bottom of the page.
2) Allowing labelling for pins, especially in the unorganized pins file, gives users a tool to help them remember what they liked about any given pin, their personal tips or thoughts about it, and where they may want it to go. - Users can then go through their unorganized pins and recall what their ideas were for the inspiration in the pin and carefully select what unorganized pins they would like to organize into boards, creating an overall more curated profile and an easier organization process.
3) To improve the organizational assistance from the app, giving users the option to use a tag or keyword for their titles and suggesting boards based on users tags, would help users separate pins according to their interests.
ROADMAPPING
Organization Process
1
Task Flows
Establish interface pathways
Task Flows
I created 3 task flows to show the full spectrum of how this new feature could improve the user experience.
Task Flow 1: Pinterest user going to the "pins ready to group" file and editing the label (title and notes) on a saved pin
Task Flow 2: Pinterest user going to the "pins ready to group" file and organizing their pins to a board
Task Flow 3: Pinterest user finding something new they want to pin from the homepage, labelling it, and pinning it to their profile
LOW FIDELITY
Digitizing
1
Low Fidelity
Digitize the new feature task flows
2
Usability Testing
Test the usability of the new feature
3
Iterations
Improve details and increase quality
Low Fidelity
Using my 3 task flows, I created key screens for my first usability test.
Usability Testing
Before moving on to high fidelity I needed to identify any usability issues and make iterations to the feature. Using maze.co I created a usability test for each task flow followed by questions. After receiving testing data from 4 participants who had experience using Pinterest, I synthesized the results through affinity mapping.
Conclusions
Tests
Each test had a 100% direct success rate. - There was one technical issue with the prototype that resulted in some mis-clicks. The participants expected some of the images to be clickable but they were not. However, each participant was still able to complete the tasks.
Questions
Overall, there was little to no negative feedback about the tasks or feature at all. - Although there were no correlations between negative feedback, there were two comments that stood out to me: 1) a participant stated they initially did not realize they needed to hit the organize button in task 2 to organize their pins and suggested there may be a better word to describe the action. 2) a participant stated they were not sure if the unorganized pins were the pins “pinned to their profile”.
Considerations
Although the two comments before were only stated once by one person, I feel they could improve my feature.
1) I feel the word organize is the correct word to use for the button in task 2, however it could be beneficial to add extra instructions before the button to guide users to the action.
2) I will find a better name for the "unorganized pins" file and test the new title in the next usability test.
Iterations
Improving "unorganized pins"
Initially I kept the name "unorganized pins" for the profile pins file because that is the name Pinterest already had. But after a participant from testing pointed out that this name was not intuitive, I knew I needed to find something for fitting.
I wanted the name to be explicit and easy to understand so I decided on "Pins ready to group".
Adding instructions & updating UI
After updating the name of the file from "unorganized pins" to "Pins ready to group", I added instructions underneath the "organize" button to help direct users to the action.
Next, I updated the labelling and edit icon to match Pinterest's existing UI.
Improving organizational assistance
For this screen, I also updated the pen edit icon to match Pinterest's existing UI.
Originally I thought that because the user could either input their own title or choose a tag, then a title which was input by a user should remain just a typed title. But, upon thinking further into how this feature would actually work with the app's system, I realized that making all titles into tags would help the system recognize and assist the user when choosing to organize their pins to boards. Therefore I changed the title so that even if a user inputs their own title, the input will become a tag as well.
HIGH FIDELITY
Usability Testing
1
High Fidelity
Bring iterated screens up to HiFi
2
Usability Testing
Test the usability of new iterations
3
Affinity Mapping
Synthesize usability test findings
High Fidelity
Usability Test Plan
With the new iterations and an understanding of what I wanted to test, I tested my feature for a 2nd time.
Objectives
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Observe efficiency in completing tasks
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Identify any problem areas within task flows
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Evaluate ease of use
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Identify areas requiring revision
Success Metrics
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Direct success vs. indirect success: how many testers are able to complete the test without issues and what issues cause indirect success.
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Participant feedback: responses from testers explaining what they liked or what they found difficult and why
Tasks
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Task 1: Pinterest user going to the "pins ready to group" file and editing the label (title and notes) on a saved pin
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Task 2: Pinterest user going to the "pins ready to group" file and organizing their pins to a board
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Task 3: Pinterest user finding something new they want to pin from the homepage, labelling it, and pinning it to their profile
Follow Up Questions
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Overall, how easy did you find these tasks?
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Was there anything you found difficult or frustrating about completing these tasks?
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If you have any comments or suggestions, please leave them here.
Affinity Mapping
Conclusions
Test
Each test had a 100% direct success rate.
There were a couple things that confused participants that were prototype related: 1) one person had a hard time finding the clickable pin in task 1, and 2) one person was frustrated because the screens were changing scroll positions.
The second prototype complaint is one that I will certainly fix.​
Questions
Overall, there was little to no negative feedback about the tasks or feature at all.
Although there were no correlations between negative feedback, there was one comment made by one person that stood out to me. This person stated they had trouble figuring out how to save a pin to their profile in task 3.
Iterations
The only negative comment about the actual feature itself was from the previously stated person (person 433) about saving a pin to their profile. However, after viewing this persons heat map it seems they figured it out with 1 click so I’m not sure where the confusion was.
Because this complaint was from only one person and the way a user can save a pin to their profile at the end of task 3 is currently how Pinterest has it set up (I did not create any new features for that screen), I believe there is no issue to be resolved.
FINAL PRODUCT
Edit the labelling of a pin in the "Pins ready to group" file.
Add a title and notes and save a new pin.
Organize the pins in the "Pins ready to group" file.
UI Kit
Next Steps
1
Continue to improve
Although I didn't get any feedback about significant issues with this version of the feature, I would like to continue to brainstorm about how the feature can be better and test it again.
2
Identify new pain points
Pinterest is a complex platform and I would be interested in continuing to find new ways to improve it. Another round of user interviews could be helpful in finding more pain points to remedy.
Key Learnings
1
Your hypothesis is just that
We have to make a hypothesis in order to have some direction about what issues we are trying to fix. But, through this project I have learned not to get attached to any idea. Your users will tell you what the issues are and give you ideas about how the issues can be fixed. Listen carefully to your users and you will come up with a great solution.
2
Utilize the software in the UI
Remembering to consider how the software can improve your UI is essential to creating the best user experience. Originally in this project, I wanted to allow users to be able to input their own title without needing to choose a tag. But I then realized that in order to suggest relevant boards to users, I needed to use tags to help the system recognize patterns. Utilizing the software in this way led to a more curated user experience.
3
Instructions matter
Something I learned when testing my low fidelity flows was that instructions make a big difference. It reminded me to think from the perspective of the user. It can be easy to forget small things, like a little mention of how a button works, because as a designer I am the one creating it. It is so important to step back and consider things from the user's perspective.
4
Test as much as you can
For this project, I tested my feature twice. Once after low fidelity and again after high fidelity. Testing more than once really helped me nip problems in the bud before anything was too far along. This taught me to be as proactive as possible.
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