SI 658 Information Architecture

Scumbag Pinterest

Jesyka Palmer

Elsa Hsiao-chih Lin

Anna Boot

Cody Haro

Raymond Alexander

Pinterest

Volume Zero

Finding new ideas not Seeing the 'most popular' things

Linking to content not Presenting encyclopedic entries

Infinite flow not Limiting content

Visual inspiration not Text-heavy explanations

Sharing and discovery through links not Discussions about specific content

Elevator PitchFor ________who have

_________, ________ is a ________that__________. Unlike _________, the product_____________.

From Gamestorming by David Gray, James Macanufo and Sunni Brown

visual aggregation of unique content

Pinterestconnects people through their common interests.

Redditplaces emphasises on the visual presentation of content that is organized in a stricter framework

people looking for inspiration or direction

a desire to collect, share, and discover interesting information from across with web

For people looking for inspiration or direction

who have a desire to collect, share, and discover

interesting information across the web

is a visual aggregation of unique content

that connects people through their common interests.

Unlike Reddit , the product places emphasis on the visual

presentation of content that is organized in a stricter

framework.

Business Model CanvasPARTNERS ACTIVITIES

Users can manage and share visual content by creating a pin (external link), repining, and "liking" content.

RESOURCESUsers who pin and share. Images are the central mechanism that can be pinned to represent content.Cloud data storage/ computing

VALUE PROP CUSTOMER

RELATIONSHIPSA space to organize and display the things they love. Businesses can target customers with specific interests.

CHANNELS

CUSTOMER SEGMENTS

COST STRUCTURE

Hosting costs, Staff, Marketing of online presence.

REVENUE STREAMS

From Gamestorming by David Gray, James Macanufo and Sunni Brown

Connecting people to things they find interesting and/or useful. Visually appealing and leads to new discoveries. Social interaction, sharing, & collecting are primary values.

Demographics

- women (5x more likely than men)- caucasian- above average incomes- 18-49 yrs old- college degrees- rural or suburban dwellers more likely to use

Users can connect through the wired, mobile & tablet apps; an online help center and can send emails for help.

Affiliate commissions on outbound links; Investment; The possibility of shopping on the site in the future.

Businesses can have accounts and Pinterest collects revenue from outbound links. Pinterest directly partners with Skimlinks to add affiliate links to products.

Performance Continuums

Transmitting the Idea

Providing the Details

Serendipitous Discovery

Strict Organization

currenttarget

currenttarget

As-Is Site AnatomyAdd pin/ help menu/ profile information

global search global navigation

tiled content organization

User/ path information

Content/ preview of click-through content

Social Media functions

Comment on pin

Metadata about the locations/actions for the pin

Top-Down IA (as is)

Home Page

Following Categories Everything Popular

[Pins][Pins][Individual

Categories]

[Pins]

[Pins]

Gifts

[Pins]

Individual Pin

External Link

About

Help/Support/About

What is Pinterest?

What can you do with Pinterest?

[Name]

My Boards

Edit Profile

Settings

Bottom-Up IA (as is)

Image of [Pin] with External Link

[Pinner Name] via [Pinner Name] repinned from [Pinner Board]

Description

Follow/Unfollow

Pinned onto [Pinner Board]; Originally pinned from; [Pinned via External Link]

Number of Repins and which Boards

Social Media Links

Taxonomy

Transmitting the idea vs. providing the details

In the old Pinterest interface, there are more textual details presented with an individual pin, such as which board the content is pinned on (Pinned onto board [Board Name]), who repins ([Pinner Name] onto [Board Name]), and where the content originally came from (Pinned via [Method] from [Website]). This information is not useless, but it is not primarily necessary for users at the first screen of [individual pin]. The focus on discovering even more content - in line with Pinterest's mission, means that structural metadata should be minimized in favor of contextual metadata: visual representations of what else [Pinner] put on [Board], what else was pinned from [Website].

Serendipitous discovery vs. Strict organization

One of the key principles of Pinterest is the discovery of new things, foods, crafts, etc. However, the categories are strictly defined and listed in alphabetical order, with no emphasis on user-driven discovery. Providing an option to discover may extend the exploratory feel of Pinterest, and is in line with their goal of connecting users to things the love. For example, adding a menu heading of Discovery Categories, with results based on user-defined queries and more likely to be of interest to the user. Then, Pinterest could label "Categories" and "Discovery" separately to differentiate the two experiences.Additionally, a blurb about the definition of each category at the top of each page would help to alleviate issues stemming from system-defined Architecture/Design/Home Decor issues.

Competitive Analysis

Competitive Analysis

Competitive Analysis

How do they compare to competitors?

StumbleUpon: ● Pinterest allows users more control over the content they wish to view.● StumbleUpon doesn't allow users to browse content with the same freedom

as Pinterest. StumbleUpon is more linear.

Tumblr: ● Pinterest places more emphasis on saving and organizing the content,

instead of commenting and creating a discussion about the content.● Tags are extremely important in the tumblr realm for communicating

between internal users - tags are virtually unused/or of lesser importance

Competitive Analysis

How do they compare to competitors?

Reddit:● Content is organized differently on Reddit. Although both sites are

composed of user-generated content, Pinterest organizes content primarily based on timestamps, while Reddit organizes content based on popularity.

● Reddit allows users to interact with a broader range of people. For example, on Pinterest the landing page is what the users are following, while Reddit's landing page is the most voted post. Karma is also a mechanism that encourage social interactions between users.

● On Reddit, users create the content, but they also create and moderate the pages themselves. This allows for greater freedom, but possibly less oversight?

Revised High Level IA

Wireframes - The Home PageNEW

OLD

We Propose:

Maintaining a full sticky navigation menu that tells the user where they are located, allows for easy search functionality, access to your profile, and the about page.

Highlighted special categories Shows user's current location

Wireframes - The Home PageOn hover - the buttons appear!

Wireframes - Profile Page

So much clutter! This user has 42 boards - How do I find the board(s) I'm interested in viewing quickly?

Wireframes - Profile Page

We Propose: Allowing the user or business to create categories for their various boards to make it easier to view and filter through related or unrelated boards.

Wireframes - Individual Pins

OLD NEW

Wireframes - Individual Pins

We Propose: Adding a hide function to individual pins in order to add more user control to their display, promote the clarity of a anchor link on the image, and facilitating guided pin discovery, and removing extraneous metadata.

Hide button to hide individual pin

Wireframes - Likes Page

The current liked pins page is unorganized and it's hard for a user to find a specific liked pin.

Wireframes - Likes Page

We Propose: Organize a user's liked pins in a timeline by date/timestamps to reduce memorizing and enable filtering. timestamp filter

Place-making: 10/10 | Consistency: 9/10 | Reduction: 8/10

Pinterest is a great example of pervasiveness across different channels: wired, tablet, and mobile. The narrative remains the same for the user despite the medium they choose to operate the website with a given time - providing a seamless experience. The ubiquitous and dynamic nature of Pinterest and its social media following, makes its pervasiveness even stronger.

Pervasiveness

How to improve?● Allow further user freedom and control by creating a "hide" function for pins● Provide distinction between "special categories" and "subject categories"● Perhaps provide a short blurb explaining the purpose and scope of each

category page, to aid in the creation of mental models● Improve user feedback by highlighting where a user is located on the

website in the navigation menu● Enhance business and individual user boards by creating larger board

categories that consist of a group of related boards● Update the "liked pins" page by providing more organization and structure

Pervasiveness