The way you view your Pinterest profile page is set to change for the better, according to the company. The Pinterest mobile app has been spruced up to make it less about self-expression and more about usability.
Before the changes, one would open their Pinterest app, and once you navigated through the profile page, your collections would appear in a well-organized grid. The first image that a user pinned served as the billboard for any image that followed.
Well, the new design doesn’t come across as very different since it still retains the gridded layout of the user’s pins, but its utility has changed. According to Pinterest’s product manager Cesar Isern, the old profile layout did not bring out the idea of usefulness.
Isern means that while the old profile page design was visually attractive, it was not something users were likely to visit. New pins seemed to be consistently overshadowed by old content, and the search function was not user-friendly. Given the fact that most users revisit their pins in a week’s span, it came to Pinterest’s attention that the hunt for newer pins was not only frustrating but also time-wasting.
With a new look, the profile changes to be in line with your pins. Unlike the old design where billboard images relied on an old pin to remind users that their tastes and interests were outdated, the revamped design highlights the user’s most recent pins by pushing them at the top of the page. You can also sort the pins alphabetically and by topic. This results in a more holistic view of what a user is interested in at any particular moment.
According to Keith Bormuth, the lead product designer at Pinterest, the new design is all about enabling the user to revisit what they are pinning and make them want to pin even more. Bormuth says that the app’s usability is essential to keep it more useful.
The design seeks to keep people engaged, unlike Instagram or Facebook where the user’s profile pages double as landing pages for curious visitors. The layout encourages users to keep returning to their profiles.
The company wants to ensure that the pins added mindlessly to collections are easier to remove now. The tweaks are meant to change Pinterest from a “digital shoebox” where users stash fantasy dresses and weddings and forget about them. The company wants Pinterest to be a place where users can click through news or sell the fantasy wedding dress.