Blog
Pinteresting…
I wanted to create my next blog post around Pinterest and the positive and negative interest around this very useful (in my opinion) creative site.
I first started “pinning” whilst in my final year of University studying Illustration. Those who used Pinterest said I would fall in love with the site, with the incredible amount of images at just one click away and the sheer amount of inspiration that you can get from one single site.
In all honesty, at first, I struggled. I didn’t quite like the sifting business you had to do to search for images, then pin or like them, then create boards for them. It was all very technical in the beginning and I found it a bit of a headache.
I missed the hand made; the “feel” for the things I was researching to get a better idea of shape, size, colour and existence.
However, the site started to grow on me when I discovered Scandinavian design. An endless amount of images flew into my face that were so very inspiring and most definitely the sort of thing I was trying to find. I felt enriched and positive and began pinning ceramics, photographs and objects onto my first board named “Scandi”.
Since then and 3 years later, I now have 50+ boards and 7,000 followers and tend to use Pinterest at least once a day whether it’s for an inspiring morning quote, wedding planning, colour inspiration or pinning my own work.
Pinterest has been a massive help for me on a business note in getting my work seen. Along with Instagram, I believe that both social media platforms are where my highest following are as well as my truest customers.
As the site has grown, it has improved a lot and pinning is now a lot easier particularly when using your mobile on the train!
If used right, it can be a great platform for businesses to promote themselves and the work they do as well as giving their customers an insight into their daily working life or some of their inspiration and ideas behind their projects.
I have a few secret boards at the moment, which include some collaborative projects with other creative practitioners as well as my wedding planning.
I have also found that Pinterest is a great place to find DIY projects. Any new, modern ideas that you want to find, you’ll find on Pinterest!
Of course, with all the positive does come the negative and I must admit that at times, I can find myself sitting on Pinterest for hours and hours then feeling like I haven’t really achieved anything. It’s addictive!
Another down side to having thousands of visual images in front of you is that you tend to forget to dig deeper. There are always links and information that accompany most images but I find myself forgetting to take the time to dive in and thoroughly research one image at a time. It’s definitely something I’m working on!
With that in mind, I’d also like to create my own mood boards by hand again with images I’ve found and pinned using Pinterest.
I guess, in the end, it comes down to what kind of creative you are as well as how strict you are on yourself with using the site.
Overall, I would definitely recommend Pinterest to anyone looking for inspiration and ideas.
