Sunday, January 27, 2013

pondering pinterest


my favorite sunday morning activity is to sit in bed with a cup of tea and my laptop and peruse pinterest. i love the way it leads me off in new directions. one minute, i'm pinning web design tips and the next, drooling over garter stitch blankets and thinking, "i could do that." the brilliant newish feature that shows you another board something is pinned to after you pin it yourself has led me to discover all kinds of goodness i'd never have found otherwise.

the more i use it, the more i think that pinterest isn't just a way of wasting time procrastinating whiling the the hours.  i have boards that are related to work and community projects as well as the frivolous things (like cutie patootie). when designing our new website last week (it's still a work in the progress, but the visuals are there), we went to my color board to find the right colors. and it helped us to refine it down to the ones that were best for our design.

i'm planning an event next weekend and i've got three boards devoted to it. it's been a great way to let the others who are involved in on what i am thinking about with regard to activities and decorations. it has both saved time in explaining and given a visual to some of the more, shall we say...fun-challenged...members of the group. pictures really are worth a thousand words.

pinterest has helped me spot trends in my own thinking. looking through my own boards, i recently realized there are a lot of circles, so i gathered them on one board, to see if there's something there to pursue. i don't know yet, but can see that it has something to do with stitching.

you also learn from those things you find that you've pinned multiple times. they must really be something you like. and sometimes you get déja pin while you're pinning, thinking, "i've pinned this before." but you can't find it.

it's an invaluable tool when you're remodeling. husband just asked the other evening to have a look at the kitchen board, as he's beginning to think about the construction of the kitchen island. he's asked me to look for and pin specific ideas with regard to the placement of sink and stovetop in kitchen islands, to help him solve the issue for ours. so even tho' husband doesn't pin himself, he recognizes it's a great tool.

i've begun to see some interesting uses of pinterest as a business tool. as a photography portfolio, by an agency who represents the photographers. for a contest by a company that makes cake decorating supplies (and which i sadly cannot find again to link it). i think it's only the beginning of that type of use. i don't find anthropologie's pinning of all of their products themselves to be that clever a use, but it's a use nonetheless. i'm sure others will be much more clever.

if you're not already using it, get over there and sign up. you'll never need web browser bookmarks again.

8 comments:

Lost Star said...

Gosh, your colour scheme for that site is beautiful!

Anonymous said...

I've tried to get caught up in Pinterest. I started with it shortly after it appeared on the scene, but have never been able to make it a daily part of my life like blogging or twitter.

In fact, this week I deactivated my account. Partly because of my lack of interest, partly because I didn't want to be sued for pinning someone's copywriter image. How do you handle that?

That being said you make a compelling argument for why I should give it a second try. Maybe I was connected to the wrong people. Or maybe I need to assign myself a chunk of time to look at it every day.

Food for thought here.

julochka said...

@Lost Star- thank you! i'm pretty pleased with them too!

@Ally - i was also an early adopter and didn't really use it much at first (it felt too junky for me, which is ironic because my personal style is rather cluttered). i don't worry about the copyright - i've had a couple of pins removed when someone complained to pinterest, but i do my best to make sure the link goes to the right site. i deleted a pin yesterday and repinned it directly from a site because it belonged to one artist, but had been featured on another blog, so the link wasn't to the right spot. that said, i don't actually check every single pin. i think the big issue over the copyright stuff blew over when pinterest adjusted their terms. so i basically just enjoy it!

Molly said...

No convincing required here, I'm SUCH a big fan. And as much as I love pinning and exploring and getting lost my favourite thing is still to go back through my own pins and find the inspiration I collected there. I've gotten really good at making, or adapting, lots of things I pin too which gives me double the pleasure. I did a pinterest project this weekend!
You have inspired me to alphabetise my boards tho ;)
Can't wait to see the outcome of this event you're planning (S's bday party?), looks like such fun!

julochka said...

@Molly i'm not that much better at enacting the pins, but i've done some. i had to alphabetize them because i couldn't find anything otherwise. now i'm obsessive about it, instantly rearranging when i add a new board. and i have to admit that i like my own pins best too. :-)

Veronica Roth said...

Frustration abounds. For some bizarre reason the pin-it button will not pin anything even after bribing, begging, deleting, reinstalling and gnashing of teeth. I can pin from my website but the image is blank so it’s pot luck what I’m pinning. Sucks!

julochka said...

@Veronica - I've had the pin marklet not work of late, but I've thought it was on websites where they'd blocked it. What browser are you using? I find Firefox works best. Chrome can be iffy at times.

Joanna Jenkins said...

I'm a Pinterest fan (addict) too. I even have one board for "blues" in your honor. I loved your blue room so much I'm gathering inspiration photos.
jj