Why Pinterest is more than just another flood of beautiful, colorful images? Find out how we and our customers use Pinterest as a creative work and marketing tool in our latest blog post.

While some people are still wondering what they should finally get involved with - Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn - a new star is already shining in the social network sky, which at first glance appears pleasantly unagitated: Pinterest.

A virtual pinboard that has only been around since 2010, but which Time Magazine, which is of course also active on Pinterest, included in its list of the 50 websites of the year just under two years later. According to alexa.com, the portal is the 29th most visited website in the world. That's enough to fire people's imaginations. There is talk of the "next big thing". The "Facebook killer for creatives", they say elsewhere. - Either way, the Wilddesign team thinks so: Pinterest is hot!

Really only for creative people?

No, all relevant target groups are now represented: consumers, brands and service providers. First of all, this is due to the simple usability: after creating a profile, you can upload photos to your pinboard at the click of a mouse. These can be snapshots of fleeting moments, breathtaking architecture, product design and studies from all over the world, graphics and packaging, design sketches and even art. These photos can then be shared and categorized for others to see. Everything that can be found on the worldwide web can be pinned there. Charmingly simple. Simply charming.

A perfect creative tool for us, perhaps a promising marketing instrument for our customers?

While global consumer brands such as Mercedes Benz or Starbucks have long been represented with creative pinboards, technical brands are obviously still finding it somewhat more difficult. The visual advertising spaces of Apple, Siemens and Panasonic are surprisingly neglected, which is particularly surprising in the case of Apple. Their customers are actually best addressed through the power of images. Of Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and XING, Pinterest is clearly our favorite platform. It's a medium made for designers, marketers, trend researchers and the many dedicated amateurs. This mixture is what makes it so appealing. The interaction of visitors on our pinboards is amazingly high. On average, our pins are re-pinned 2000 times a month, and the trend is steadily rising.

Pinterest - currently the fastest growing social network

While the major social networks are slowly reaching their saturation limits, Pinterest is growing the fastest of all. Despite this - or because a picture is worth a thousand words - Pinterest has an almost deliberate effect in contrast to the message avalanche of letters on Twitter. For creative people, Pinterest is definitely an invaluable "quarry" of visual inspiration. A source of new ideas that usually only emerge through a random sequence of seemingly unrelated motifs. But in the end, that's exactly what creativity is all about: creating something new and unusual.

A powerful tool for our design process

Internally, we at Wilddesign have been actively using Pinterest as a tool in our creative value creation process for a long time. It's incredibly practical! For example, we put together mood boards when it comes to clarifying trends in the design world for our customers and deriving our own design strategy for the respective project. In fact, we have our own Pinterest board for every design trend that our scouts track down worldwide. There are pinboards called Health-Interior alongside Eco design and Flat&Minimal UI. The titles may sound a little abstract, but the content is all the more exciting and this way we always have an overview at our two locations in Gelsenkirchen and Shanghai. And we have one ear to the ground to hear the next trend before it has really arrived. Pinterest is "worth" it for this reason alone.

Commercial in the future?

Incidentally, it has not yet been proven that the portal can even be used as a platform for incidentally placed advertising to earn money, but it is certainly being considered. After all, Pinterest is already said to direct more users to other websites than Google+, Linkedin and YouTube combined.

Here are some of our design trend pinboards that we have already presented in our article: "14 design trends that are really taking off in 2014":

Design trend 1 | Stealth Design

‍Derivedfrom stealth technology and early 3D computer graphics, this trend is now becoming increasingly visible in product design. Designers such as Zaha Hadid and Konstantin Grcic are using the expressive power of the triangle to minimize constructions and animate surfaces.
-> investigate stealth design
-> to the detailed article

Design trend 2 | Wearable design

‍Thefuture has really taken off since Google Glass. The extremely miniaturized technology is getting closer and closer to the body. And the battle for a small space on the limited available skin surface can only be won with emotionality and aesthetics.
-> investigate wearable design

Design trend 3 | Stacking Design

‍Anold theme - revitalized. Stacking similar elements in rows or on top of each other dramatizes the design, sets a direction and breaks down the overall shape into flat bodies. A playful trend that goes well with the flat&minimal UI trend (No.7).
-> investigate stacking design

Design trend 4 | Minimal design

‍Minimalismalways works. It has been around for many decades and is certainly one of the dominant trends in product design. It's not just about leaving out everything superfluous, but also about creating a form that is as abstract and independent as possible. Material quality and details are decisive for this style.
-> investigate Minimal Design

What do you think of Pinterest and how do you use it? Please write a short comment below.

In addition, if you're looking for more tips and similar articles, we have a few good things you can use for you here:

-> Visit our Pinterest boardswhere we post new examples of design trends every day.