We use Pinterest on a daily basis for both professional and personal related topics, but it is for professional (and in particular architecture) where for us Pinterest really comes into its own and excels. That said this would be the same for any creative industry where aesthetics and visual inspirations are important.
Like any of the big social media platforms, Pinterest has seamlessly slipped into our daily lives and has quickly (almost sneakily) become a necessity to many peoples creative processes.
For Architects and in fact the architecture industry as a whole, it has become the go to platform for image searching and collection, with its database only getting stronger and larger every time someones pins an image.
So for those who are just getting to know or looking to advance their knowledge in how to use pinterest to their architectural advantage, here we will outline how it can be best used for architects and those working within the architecture industry.
So firstly:
Pins
Pins are what pinterest calls the images you save to your account, and the beauty of these is that when they are saved (or pinned) from a particular website, the images Url is also saved. This means that when the images is clicked on within pinterest, you are taken directly to the source it came from, so no more difficulties trying to remember where you originally found it.
Comments and or notes can added to each pin also, should you require to add further information or just something to remind you of its relevance.
Image search
When searching for architectural images, pinterest’s search function now rivals and in fact beats even Google. Where a google search will often firstly bring up the relative Pinterest boards containing your search topic before the actual website it belongs to.
For this reason a lot of architects now go straight to pinterest before google.
Search Related pins
Linked to its search function is an incredibly useful feature that finds and relates other images to the ones you are pinning. This means that once you select and click on an image within the pinterest dashboard, below it you will be provided with a what can be quite a large selection of related images and projects.
This is quite possibly our favourite and the most useful part of Pinterest for architects seeking inspiration. As when searching, you can quite literally find yourself stuck in a web of related images, which can obviously be incredibly useful when doing project research.
On almost all occasions if there is a project that you can’t quite remember the name of, if you search for another related project or even something that features within it, eventually you find it in Pinterest.
Boards
The primary key function of Pinterest is its ability to store any number of the pins you choose to save into what it calls “boards”. Boards are essentially online folders that you create and name yourself to house your images.
What this means is that you no longer need to save images to your desktop and clog up your computer, as they are all stored and kept online. If you already have a personal selection of images stored, then these can also be uploaded and stored with your other saved images. In fact Pinterest incurudges this.
Boards can be organised and named into as many categories as you can think of, and for architects (as you can see from our account below) this means breaking down your pins into some very useful architecture related sub-categories that are completely tailored to you.
For example:
- Openings
- Fireplaces
- Housing
- Staircases
- Materials
- Landscape
- Joinery
Related pins
Pinterest works by and requires you to follow other peoples boards and accounts, and this is how you find other and related images and what will predominantly feature on your Pinterest homage.
However Pinterest also others a “related images” function, where it personally selects additional and related images to ones featuring in your feed, further adding finding potential inspiration.
Ensuring that there is always something new to see and find.
Communication
Pinterest encourages communication between its users and one of its most useful features in this area is its group board function, where here you can communicate and share images with like minded individuals, via open or closed invitations.
Sharing
Boards can also be shared between selected individuals, where members of the design team can communicate ideas between one another. This can also be applied and used between the architect and client in the same way.
Overall this provides a seamless and tidy online record, and with regards to clients in particular adds an extra visual element to the design brief process.
Public and private boards
Not all of your pinterest boards need to be public and available for everyone to see. There is a very handy private feature that only allows you and any invited members to the board to see it, this can again be very useful when sharing ideas between a client and architect.
This also enables an architecture practice to control what the public facing side of their account shows, whilst maintaining its usefulness internally between its architects and designers.
Business feature
Architecture practices and sole practitioners may be interested in Pinterests business account (free of charge) feature, that provides the account with live analytics of the people using and interacting with your boards and pins. This enables you to identify what pins are your most successful and what your audience is most interested in, helping to shape future pins for success.
Best Pinterest Boards for Architects, Designers and Creatives.
…Overall Pinterest is a fantastic resource for any architect, architecture student or practice, and its only getting stronger.
To finish, here is a list of some of our favourite and in our opinion the Best Pinterest Accounts for Architecture:
Dezeen
Divisare
Cereal
Studio Nordhaven
Thom Ortiz Design
