Oh, How Pinteresting!

Share Your Pinterest Story

Mon, 07 May 2012 11:19:00 -0700

***

UPDATE:

Hi everyone! If you’ve been having trouble submitting your story, this is because the submission form we used is reaching its maximum limit of entries (almost 20,000!).

The response to our call-out for Pinterest stories has been incredible and overwhelming. Unfortunately, the actual amount of responses has been literally overwhelming.

We’re really sorry to have to cut off more entries so soon, but we’ll try to do another mass-mailing of Pinterest tees in the future and this week we’ll be sending out as many goodies as we have available.

Thanks SO much to all Pinners who shared and who wanted to share - we really appreciate it!

***

Every day we get notes from Pinners telling us why you pin, whether it’s part of your day-to-day activities or for something special.

This week, we want to take the time to say “thanks!” to as many Pinners as we can:

If you have a Pinterest story to share with us, please fill in this form [sorry - we had to close this form because it reached the maximum number of entries!] so we’ll have the info we need to send you a Pinterest tee!

From planning a “Pinterest Party” with your friends, getting freelance gigs, building a shelf, making new friends, renovating your house, growing your business, cooking a meal, taking a trip, to stories we’ve never imagined - whatever it is, we would love to hear about it and let you know how excited we are to be a part of your story.

We’ll try to mail as many t-shirts and thank-you notes as possible this week. Thanks for pinning with us everyone!

Seeking Pinterest Translators

Wed, 02 May 2012 17:02:57 -0700

Guten Tag! Olá! Bonjour! こんにちは!

At Pinterest, we’ve always wanted to make it easy for people all over the world to organize and share all the beautiful things they find on the web. We want to take another step towards making this vision a reality by translating Pinterest into other languages.

To start, we are focusing on French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish, but we hope to launch in many other languages soon including Dutch, Greek, Italian, Korean, Malay, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Swedish, and Turkish.

We would love your help. If you speak one (or more!) of these languages and you’d be interested in helping us translate Pinterest, please share a little information with us so we can get in contact with you when we’re ready. If you have any questions, please email us at translate@pinterest.com.

Thank you! 謝謝! Ευχαριστώ! Terima kasih!

Announcing Attribution and Easy Sharing with Flickr

Tue, 01 May 2012 10:56:58 -0700

Pins are the most useful when they link back to the original source. Today, we’re excited to announce that we’ve worked with Flickr and other communities to make it easier to pin and credit content creators. Images with sharing enabled on Flickr now have a Pin It button, and pins from Flickr now have a clear attribution statement on Pinterest.

Pin It from Flickr

You can now find a Pinterest button in the Flickr share menu to easily pin everything that you can share via Flickr, including photo pages, favorites, and groups. If you pin frequently, the Pin It button will show as one of the two shortcuts directly on the photopage.

Attribution on Pins

Attribution appears below the pin’s description and provides a permanent link to the work, its author, and where they host their content. Because attribution cannot be edited, photographers can rest assured that pins and repins of their work will credit and link back to them.

We think simple and automatic attribution is a step forward for the sharing of content online, so we went even further than adding attribution to pins directly from Flickr. We will also retrieve attribution data from Flickr if a photo is pinned from a website or blog embedding a Flickr image.

Attribution is a work in progress and we’ll continue to add additional sources. In fact, today we’re also rolling out attribution for Behance, Vimeo and YouTube. We’re excited to make it easier to credit and connect with the creators of the beautiful things you discover on Pinterest. If you’d like to learn more, check out our attribution documentation. As always, we value your feedback!

Introducing Improved Group Boards

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:26:00 -0700

What a week! On Monday and Tuesday, we had our highest traffic days ever on Pinterest and we’ve received lots of helpful feedback and suggestions from Pinners. One popular request has been to improve group boards. Today, we’re pleased to announce we’ve made it easier to pin with others while giving you more control over your profile. We’re rolling out group board invitations and enhanced board settings.

Pinners will now be asked to join a group board before it’s added to their profile. When someone adds you to a group board, you’ll be sent an invitation to contribute. If you accept the invitation, you will be added as a collaborator and the board will appear on your profile. Invitations will be sent by email, and pending invitations will be visible to only you at the top of your profile.

We’ve also worked to make board settings more clear. The creator of the board is clearly labeled, and each collaborator is listed below along with the name of the pinner that invited them. Creators may remove any collaborator by clicking the “x” next to their name. Collaborators are able to remove anyone they invited, and they can also leave the group at any time. (Note: group boards created prior to this announcement will not list who invited each collaborator)

Thanks again to all of you who have given us input to help make Pinterest what it is today. Keep the feedback coming so that we can continue to make your pinning experience better and better.

Happy (group) pinning!

Interview with Chase Holfelder: Founder of Welcome Home Blog

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 07:32:00 -0700

We talk about inspiration a lot at Pinterest. After all, we want you to discover inspiration for just about anything - from choosing furniture for your new place, cooking a new dish, or just taking some photos outside for a day.

And one of the things we’re always inspired by are those who create an experience or place online that’s really meaningful to a lot of people.

Chase Holfelder definitely achieves that, every day, with Welcome Home Blog: a site where you can watch surprise, military homecoming videos - even dog reunion videos! As Chase describes it very simply: “Regardless of political stance, no one can deny the joy felt upon seeing soldiers coming home safely.”

Naturally, we were excited to see Chase’s Welcome Home Blog pins and we hope you enjoy the pinterview about his simple idea which makes an international, emotional impact.

Hi, Chase! First, can you tell us about Welcome Home Blog and how it got started?

I created Welcome Home Blog in June of 2010 as the first site in the FeelGood Blogs network.

While I don’t have any personal connection to the military, I have always thought these homecoming videos to be especially touching. After spending hours on YouTube watching video after video, and realizing that there wasn’t a centralized location on the web to view videos of this sort, I decided to create one myself. Welcome Home Blog was instantly a hit. Military families from all over the world began sending in their clips to be featured on the blog, and hundreds of appreciative emails began to pour in.

Video submitted to Welcome Home Blog by Kathryn

What do these homecoming videos mean to you and how do you hope they’ll help others?

To me, these homecoming videos are unique because they have such universal appeal. People are used to seeing disagreement, hostility, and general negativity surrounding things that have to do with military foreign policy, but these videos are undoubtedly heartwarming no matter your political beliefs. They bring people together around a topic that is typically polarizing, and that is something special.

The majority of emails we receive are from military families. The site seems to offer military members and their families a means of catharsis during the tough times of deployment. While a little website is nothing compared to the sacrifices made by our armed forces and their families, I’m grateful for being able to help people smile with every blog update.

Video submitted to Welcome Home Blog by Amara

About how many videos have you received and did you ever think Welcome Home Blog would become an international destination for these stories?

The total number of posts currently on the site is around 500. I’ve never actually tallied up the total number of videos and pictures that have been sent in, but I wake up to a full inbox every morning. It’s a pretty great way to start the day! The first day that I woke up to a full inbox with messages from people all over the world, I knew that the site would grow into something big.

Welcome Home Blog’s pins

You recently joined Pinterest: What are your plans for your boards?

I recently started to notice a lot of traffic coming to Welcome Home Blog from Pinterest. A quick search revealed that a lot of people were pinning images and videos from our site and sharing them with their followers. I thought that creating a Pinterest account for Welcome Home Blog would be an awesome way to more easily share the heartwarming videos and pictures that we post on our site every day. I plan on pinning some of the best clips from the site, as well as exclusive content only for our Pinterest followers.

Proceeds from the advertisements on Welcome Home Blog go to a different charity each month that serves soldiers, veterans, and their families. Can you share a short-list of these charities for anyone who’d like to help out?

Last month’s donation went to the Fisher House Foundation, an organization that provides a “home away from home” for military families to be close to a loved one during hospitalization for an illness, disease or injury. You can find out more information and donate at fisherhouse.org.

Next on our list is Homes For Our Troops, an organization that builds specially adapted homes for our severely injured veterans. We are always interested in learning about more charities for our monthly donation, and we encourage our visitors to send us a message welcomehomeblog.com/contact/ and let us know about any organizations that are important to them.

Thanks so much for sharing some videos and pinning with us, Chase! You can go to Welcome Home Blog or Welcome Home Blog’s Pinterest boards to watch more reunion videos. You can also submit your own homecoming video to Chase’s blog here.

Addressing Spam on Pinterest

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:25:00 -0700

As Pinterest grows, spammers have also grown within our community. While the technology we use to detect spam becomes more advanced each day, we want Pinners to know what to do in case you come across suspicious content or links while browsing Pinterest.

First: What is spam and how can you report it?

Similar to spam emails that have plagued Internet users for years, it’s possible that you’ll encounter spam while using Pinterest. In most cases, spam accounts on Pinterest create pins with misleading links and follow many people in hopes that you’ll visit their boards.

You don’t need to be concerned if a spam account follows you on Pinterest, but you should definitely feel empowered to let us know about it.

Report one or more of their pins using the Report Pin button. Just click on any pin to view it in full-size. Then, on the right-hand side of the pinned image, you’ll see the Report Pin button which will open a menu to choose your type of report.

Reporting a pin helps everyone by removing the pin from public feeds. A reported pin also gives us information about the suspicious account and the spam links they’re trying to promote.

Second: How can you protect your account?

There are many online spam tactics, but following general Internet-safety practices will go a long way:

If you click on a link and the resulting page isn’t what you expect, return to Pinterest.com.
Don’t click on a pin that promotes a free giveaway or looks like an advertisement. Pinterest doesn’t have any advertising and we don’t post surveys, giveaways, or other promotions. If an offer seems too good to be true, it’s very likely spam.
Pinterest will only ask for your login and password details on Pinterest.com or on our official iPhone app. Don’t log in on other websites or on other apps.
Pinterest.com is the only Pinterest website; other addresses containing the name “Pinterest” are not legitimate.
Avoid interacting with accounts where their pins do not link to relevant content or their pins all link to the same source.
You should choose unique, difficult-to-guess passwords for all of your online accounts, and you should update them regularly. Don’t reuse passwords across websites. If you’re ever concerned about your account, create a new password.

Fighting spam is a top priority as we continue to grow and we really appreciate the reports we’ve received so far. Your input and efforts have really helped us develop our anti-spam features, so if you have any questions or concerns, you can learn more and contact us at http://support.pinterest.com.

Thanks for pinning with us!

Vimeo Pinning

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:12:14 -0700

Caine’s Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo.

The Pin It bookmarklet can now pin Vimeo videos in addition to YouTube!

Pinning from Vimeo works the same way that pinning from YouTube does, so if you haven’t already, install the Pin It bookmarklet to your browser’s bookmarks bar following the directions here.

Then you can pin from Vimeo.com and from pages that have embedded Vimeo videos.

Or, just browse and watch some pinned videos by going to the Video feed.

Have fun pinning and if you’re looking for a great video, we recommend Caine’s Arcade: This short film about a DIY cardboard arcade constructed by 9 year-old Caine is guaranteed to make your day better!

Caine’s Arcade is directed by Nirvan Mullick and produced by Interconnectd.

Introducing Board Covers

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 10:29:06 -0700

A couple weeks ago we launched our new design for Pinterest profiles and we got a lot of great suggestions from Pinners.

One of the most requested features was the ability to choose a pin to be the cover for each board. Today, you’ll be able to do just that:

If you’d prefer a specific pin as a board cover, mouse-over the board you want to edit and click “Edit Board Cover”. Next, select a cover pin and drag it to the exact position you want.

When you’re finished, hit “Set Cover”.

You can also choose a board cover while you’re browsing within your board: Just mouse-over any of your pins to select it.

Covers on collaborative boards can only be selected by the Pinner who created the board. Other than that, you can choose new covers as often as you’d like, so we hope you’ll have fun customizing the look of your boards and profile.

As always, we consider this new feature a work-in-progress and we really appreciate all the feedback we received about it along the way. Let us know your continued thoughts and Happy Pinning!

From Pinterest Co-Founder, Paul Sciarra

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:38:00 -0700

I consider myself an incredibly lucky guy. For the last three and a
half years, I have had the privilege of helping to found the company
that — after fits and starts and lots of awkward half-steps — has
become Pinterest.

Following a failed first product, Ben, Evan, and I started work on
Pinterest with a simple idea: make an internet service where people
can create and share collections of images — an online take on the
time-honored tradition of collecting your favorite things in
photo-albums, on refrigerators, in dog-eared stacks of clippings, or,
of course, on physical cork-boards.

Although it’s hard to imagine today, I lost sleep when we launched the
first version in early 2010 over whether anyone except a handful of
close family and guilt-ridden friends would ever use it. Now,
millions of people from all over the world use Pinterest, and it’s on
a trajectory to make pinners of so many more!

The Pinterest journey has often been strange, but always exciting. I’ve
played lots of roles along the way: from product-guy to recruiter;
from fundraiser to construction foreman. I even made a humbling run as
a self-taught developer which produced plenty of code I hope never
sees the light of day.

From marking milestones in hundreds of new pins to millions, the
company has grown, the product has evolved, and I’ve changed too along
the way. After lots of reflection and plenty of discussion with Ben
and others, I’ve decided that now is a good time for me to step down
formally from day-to-day involvement. Of course, I’ll continue to be
there for the company: now, as an advisor, an owner, and — as always — a
dedicated pinner.

Looking back over the past few years, what strikes me most is the
passion of the folks that use Pinterest. Few companies get
love-letters from their users, and few get hugs from users at meetups.
I can almost guarantee that this is the only company ever that’s
been offered homemade barbeque sauce in exchange for a beta
invitation.

This passion reflects, I think, something that we’ve always believed
as a company. That is, that the best internet services aren’t just
ways for people to escape their everyday lives. Instead, those
services with longevity –- with real “legs” –- enhance folks’
day-to-day experiences, deepen their relationships, and show them
things about themselves they didn’t know before.

As for me, I’ve accepted a role as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at
Andreessen Horowitz. I hope that eventually leads me back to doing
what I’ve done for the past three and a half years — namely, building
cool things with awesome people with unexpected results.

I’m grateful to be a part of this enormously talented group of people,
and I’m so excited for what’s to come!

- Paul

Updated Pinterest Terms

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:55:00 -0700

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been working on an update to our Terms. When we first launched Pinterest, we used a standard set of Terms. We think that the updated Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy, and Privacy Policy are easier to understand and better reflect the direction our company is headed in the future. We’d encourage you to read these changes in their entirety, but we thought there were a few changes worth noting:

Our original Terms stated that by posting content to Pinterest you grant Pinterest the right for us to sell your content. Selling content was never our intention and we removed this from our updated Terms.

We updated our Acceptable Use Policy and we will not allow pins that explicitly encourage self-harm or self-abuse.

We released simpler tools for anyone to report alleged copyright or trademark infringements.

Finally, we added language that will pave the way for new features such as a Pinterest API and Private Pinboards.

We think these changes are important and we encourage you to review the new documents here. These Terms will go into effect for all users on April 6, 2012.

Like everything at Pinterest, these updates are a work in progress that we will continue to improve upon. We’re working hard to make Pinterest the best place for you to find inspiration from people who share your interests. We’ve gotten a lot of help from our community as we’ve crafted these Terms.

Thanks!

Ben & the Pinterest Team

A More Visual You

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 10:02:33 -0700

We believe everyone’s Pinterest boards are a window into all the things that inspire them every day. We wanted to make Pinterest profiles as beautiful and informative about your interests as possible. Today, we’re starting to roll out a new version of profile and we wanted to share a few of the details.

The biggest change is next to your basic profile information: It’s a card called “Repins From”. As the name indicates, this card shows you 3 people you frequently repin from. It’s a great way to discover new people to follow.

Next, we reimagined Boards themselves. By pulling out the most recent pin and giving it center stage, boards now have a larger point of focus. Redesigning something as fundamental as the board was tricky. We tried more than 20 versions before arriving at the current design. The more we used this new layout as a team here in Palo Alto, the more we enjoyed it. We hope you feel the same way!

Centralizing profile navigation was also key. Even seasoned Pinners had trouble finding out who follows them and who they’re following. We decided to put all of the profile navigation in one bar so you always know where to look to find your profile’s core information. You can also rearrange your boards by hitting the button next to “Edit Profile.”

We also added a new view called Activity. When you’re browsing your friends’ profiles, it helps you see all the things they’ve been doing on Pinterest. It’s a great view to quickly see how much someone is pinning and commenting, who they decide to follow, or keep track of the things you’ve been doing yourself on your own profile!

Lastly, your profile image, description, and website are all at the top of the page, so people can get a great idea of who you are really quickly. This design also gives your pins and pinboards a lot more space to shine.

We think this new profile is a step forward in representing you and helping you discover interesting things and people. We always welcome and consider feedback. Like everything at Pinterest, our new profile is a work in progress that we will continue to improve.

Happy Pinning!

In Memory of Susan Niebur

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:51:22 -0800

As a relatively young company, it’s amazing that we’ve already had the opportunity to interact with so many incredible people. For those of you who joined us earlier, you might remember Susan Niebur. We interviewed her about the Women in Planetary Science project she founded, increasing inflammatory breast cancer awareness, and the lymphedema sleeve project.

Susan Niebur passed away on February 6, 2012, of inflammatory breast cancer. While we didn’t know her personally, it was clear to anyone who read her blog that she inspired and advocated many causes and communities. Her peers from the Women of Planetary Science project are continuing Susan’s cause on Pinterest, so we wanted to take a moment to highlight their efforts:

Astronomer Erin Ryan is maintaining Susan’s “Women in Planetary Science” pinboard here.

We feel it’s a graceful gesture on top of a powerful message; check it out if you have a chance.

Growing Up

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:00:00 -0800

The last few months have been a whirlwind here at Pinterest. It’s hard to explain how it feels to go from a small group of people working on a virtually unknown website, to a slightly bigger team of people working on a service that millions of people use every day. It’s humbling, and exciting.

With all that growth, we’ve gotten more questions from reporters and Pinners. In the past, we’ve been pretty quiet, but we want to get better about answering questions openly with people who are interested in Pinterest. We decided to start today by talking about copyright.

As a company, we care about respecting the rights of copyright holders. We work hard to follow the DMCA procedure for acting quickly when we receive notices of claimed copyright infringement. We have a form for reporting claims of copyright violations on our site here. Every pin has a flag to make reporting easier. We also know that copyright is a complicated and nuanced issue and we have knowledgeable people who are providing lots of guidance.

Most publishers we speak with are excited about Pinterest. We’ve heard that Pinterest drives a lot of traffic to their websites. This has prompted many groups to add Pin It buttons to their websites. We’ve seen Pin It buttons on sites across the web, including some of our favorite retailers, marketplaces, museums, publications, and blogs.

At the same time, we understand and respect that sometimes site owners do not want any of their material pinned. For these folks, we provide a snippet of code that can be added to any website. You can find it in our help section.

Pinterest plays different roles for different people. People use Pinterest as a creative outlet, a place to connect with friends in new ways, a tool to plan important personal projects, and of course, a source of inspiration and discovery. We hope that like many technology services we’ve come to love on the internet - from blogs to YouTube to Facebook - we can help figure out good approaches to complex issues, and build a service that is valuable to lots of people all over the world.

- Ben

Add Pins to Your Facebook Timeline

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:03:14 -0800

Starting today, you can add pins to your Facebook Timeline!

Lots of people use Pinterest to get inspiration for the most important projects in their life. People use Pinterest to plan their vacations, redecorate their homes, and create menus for holiday dinners.

You can now share all of these pins on your Facebook Timeline and look back at all of your projects and inspirations across the year! To add pins to your Facebook Timeline, click the button on the top of your screen:

Success! Pins will automatically be added to your Timeline. Don’t worry, we’ll automatically group your pins, showing your most active boards and recent boards you’ve chosen to follow.

If you change your mind, you can always disable this option by going to your settings page and turning this option off:

Happy Pinning!

Pinterest iPhone App: Version 1.4

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:49:00 -0800

The latest version of Pinterest for iPhones is in the app store today! We’ve been working on changes behind-the-pins to make our iPhone app speedier, but the update also includes a new look and new features.

So when you get a chance before the holidays, we recommend updating to version 1.4 in the app store for:

Larger images in your feed
Faster search
Better compatibility with iOS 5
Tabs that drop away while scrolling for easier browsing
Saving pins to your Camera Roll

We hope you enjoy it and happy pinning!

Interview with Chrissy Jensen: Owner of Domestica

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:44:00 -0800

Photo by Erich Ernst

Shop owner, music lover, poster collector, and 60s mod aficionado. Chrissy Jensen took some time out of a business holiday season at her shop Domestica to share how her business got started and what and why she pins.

Chrissy’s shop Domestica in Des Moines, Iowa

First, can you tell us a bit about yourself?

My name’s Chrissy Jensen, I live in Des Moines, Iowa with my husband Craig + my son, Carter. I grew up out East, but came to Iowa to study fashion design at Iowa State (Go Cyclones!). Circa 1985, Iowa State was not a fashion design school. Not at all. After a semester of sewing puffy sleeves and darts, I switched to journalism.

How did Domestica get started?

It really kinda all goes back to Etsy and the power of the internet. I’ve always been interested in design - industrial design, graphic design, architecture. My dad had stacks of print magazines everywhere and my mom rocked the hottest pad in Philly - butterfly chairs, daybed couches, a surfboard coffee table, abstracts.

After school, I sort of fell into a career as a photo stylist. First in film and then in magazines (Des Moines is home to Meredith Corp, publishers of magazines like Do It Yourself, Better Homes & Gardens, etc. It’s a great resource for creatives here). In 2005, while researching an idea for photo-based crocheted throws, I “met” a kid online who had developed a program to Pantone color-match the Masters’ paintings. He, in turn, told me about a site his friend was working on where you could search product by color. I was so excited. All these various color bubbles appeared on screen and when you clicked them, other bubbles popped up with matching products. That was Etsy.

Craft was taking off, but wasn’t nearly as big as it is, now. Buy Olympia was the only online indie craft shop + there were literally just a handful of craft blogs. I couldn’t get an editor to jump on a craft story if I promised Martha Stewart herself would write it - it just wasn’t on anyone’s radar. But I started my own craft blog anyway, met a ton of great people through the blog + eventually found someone who wanted to open an indie craft shop with me.

The thought of having this cool little craft bubble in our own town excited us. We worked on it for about a year, but weren’t making headway with our local SBA. They didn’t understand or believe in the concept and just kept us in limbo. They even told us the name sounded like a Hispanic cleaning company…

I think this is where sometimes you just have to be bull-headed and power through despite the obvious signs. My business partner moved to Minnesota (she’s still one of my closest confidantes), but I still believed it was possible. I found another partner who really pushed the idea through, and although she didn’t stay with the shop, she gave me that extra push I needed.

Photo by Erich Ernst

Domestica is all about handmade, but that still covers a huge range of things: what do you look for in consignment pieces or products for the store?

I’m definitely drawn to clean, modern, cheerful designs. We’re fortunate that designers/makers are drawn to our shop, so we get a lot of inquiries. It’s hard not to take everything - especially when the artist is clearly at the top of their game, but keeping it modern and cool gives our shop a little different feel. Oh, and prints. It’s a sickness. We have hundreds of prints + posters.

Chrissy’s group board “Mad Men Style”

You collaborate on a group board devoted to “Mad Men Style.” Is 60s modern your favorite design-style or period and, more importantly, who is your favorite Mad Men character?

Let’s get to the more important Mad Men character thing first: I only have two “star” crushes, Dean Winters and Jon Hamm. That said, I like Don Draper better when Peggy Olson’s in the room. It’s dynamic when the two most complicated characters share the screen.

I used to like Betty best, but this last season, they made her so pinched and uncomfortable. I liked her better when she was, as my friend once put it, “like Grace Kelly with a crack in her skull” - standing on her front lawn pulling birds out of the sky with a shotgun while a cigarette hung from her mouth.

And yes, I love the 60’s and really, ‘62-’65. The clothing, print and ad design…

Chrissy’s group board “Des Moines”

Since you’re an Iowan (and we also have two Iowans on Team Pinterest!), what would you say are the best parts about Des Moines or the whole state?

I’m not a native, but I’ve lived here 25+ years now (really?). I think being in the middle geographically has an affect on Iowans’ sensibilities. Iowans are some of the most traveled, most politically savvy, most culturally checked in people I’ve met. Even in the smallest towns, people are checked into what’s going on in the world. They’re definitely more conservative in smaller towns, but I think being farmers/landowners gives them a sense of the value of individual freedom.

Lots of people like to characterize us as living the simple life, but in a way, it’s true. Life’s so easy here. Des Moines offers many of the same cultural + recreational pursuits as larger towns, plus you get the added bonus that you’ll actually get Wilco tickets when they go on sale.

Gig posters available at Domestica

As a music and poster obsessive, what’s on your wishlist of bands you’d love to see or posters you’d love to have?

Right now, I’m listening to a lot of Sleeper Agent, Wild Flag, We Were Promised Jetpacks and Jeff the Brotherhood - I’d love to see any of them. I already have the raddest Wild Flag poster by El Jefe - one of my faves in the shop right now - and he did an awesome poster for We Were Promised Jetpacks, too.

If we had more room/resources, I’d love to get work by Mat Daly, Mike Perry, Dan McCarthy, Miss Amy Jo, Little Friends of Printmaking, Burlesque…there’s just so many people who rock screenprint. We have some of the best already, so I’m thrilled to have who we have.

Chrissy’s “Mad About Print” board

How do you use Pinterest, both for Domestica and for yourself?

Wow. it’s really changed over the last year. At first, it was definitely just a clever way to clean up my desktop. Then my friends and I started a board just to share things with each other and then I think the full scope of Pinterest’s value set in.

I think I tend to use it as a community more than anything - connecting with people I don’t really know, but who have similar interests or who know something I might find valuable. I don’t tend to pin our wares so much. I see boards dedicated to people’s creations or their Etsy store stock, but I worry that it’s too one-dimensional - it doesn’t tell a very rounded story about me or who I am.

I’ve been trying to add a Pin It Button to our blog posts and shop items, that’s a huge! marketing tool, thank you, but I’m still not sure I’m coding it correctly. :)

You can find Chrissy’s boards here and shop online at Domestica here. Happy holidays and thanks so much for sharing Chrissy!

Interview with Chronicle Books

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 09:27:00 -0800

Way back in August we got the chance to meet-up with hundreds of pinners in the SF/Bay Area. One of the most enthusiastic groups we got a chance to talk to was a “delegation” of happy pinners from Chronicle Books. As soon as we started chatting with Kate, Kristen, and Guinevere, how and why they pin started pouring out: Kate as an editor for Chronicle Books and Anthology Magazine, Kristen to work with artists and designers as a design director, and Guinevere as a community manager and blog-writer.

It was one of the first times we got to meet a team that pins together so when we got a chance, a pinterview naturally followed:

The Chronicle Books office in San Francisco

Chronicle Books could be very basically described as a publishing company of visual books, but how would you describe where you work and the mission of Chronicle Books?

Kate Woodrow: I’d say Chronicle’s mission is to create exceptional publishing that’s instantly recognizable for its spirit, creativity, and value. (I’d say that because it’s literally part of our mission statement!) At the end of the day, we work hard to make distinctive things—books, games, journals, puzzles, stationery, apps, and so much more—and we have a lot of fun doing it. If I had to be anywhere every weekday, Chronicle Books makes for a pretty spectacular playground of creativity. (Plus we throw some pretty wicked parties.)

Setting up for a “Pantone Day” party at Chronicle Books

Each of you has a different role at Chronicle Books: can you give us some insight into what you do?

Kate Woodrow: As an editor, I acquire and then help develop roughly 30 art-driven gift products and illustrated books a year. It typically takes about a year to get from the initial nugget of an idea to a finished product on the shelves—but the more complicated projects on my list can take years of format development! I’m always on the hunt for new artists and brands to collaborate with.

Kristen Hewitt: I am an associate design director, and I work on mostly non-book titles—stationery, journals and gift items. I also work on developing new formats and making sure the house as the whole is always coming up with new and interesting formats for us to produce.

Guinevere de la Mare: I’m the community manager at Chronicle (the Chronicle Books blog here), so it’s my job to manage all of our social networks and connect with our fans online. I love what I do because it allows me to engage directly with customers, bloggers, authors, and artists. It’s incredibly valuable to have one-on-one conversations with people, hear what they’re saying about our books, and pass that feedback back to the rest of the company.

Chronicle Books “Books We Love” board

Chronicle Books has a Pinterest account and you all pin together on group boards. How does the office use Pinterest: is it mostly just for fun and community-building, or does pinning together help solidify design ideas too?

GdlM: A group of us at Chronicle all discovered Pinterest around the same time earlier this spring and we were immediately struck by how perfectly it complemented what we do. Our core business is built around visual sharing, and so much of what’s shared on Pinterest—design, typography, crafts/DIY, recipes, fashion—overlaps beautifully with what we publish. It instantly became a font of inspiration and a great new way to interact with our authors (many of whom pin) and our online community.

KH: As a designer and art director, Pinterest has become an incredible tool for me. When trying to establish a visual palette for a project, I used to create style boards that I would send to either the photographer, stylist, illustrator or designer and now I can just send a board specific to a project and send a link to the artist. By making it a shared board we both can pin things and collaborate on developing the look and feel together. It’s really become such a great tool!

If you were forced to pick, what would be your top Chronicle Books pick and why?

KW: Florence Broadhurst: Her Secret & Extraordinary Lives by Helen O’Neill. I’m partial, because it was my first acquisition at Chronicle way back in 2006. But, this illustrated biography of the infamous wallpaper designer is such a juicy read—and a beautifully packaged design book, as well

KH: This is tough because I work with so many amazing artists, each bringing so much passion and enthusiasm to each project. One of the projects that I’m most proud of is not a book, but a stationery line we have with Rifle Paper Co. called Botanicals. It’s a notebook collection and stationery set that is probably just about the prettiest project I’ve ever worked on. When Anna Bond at Rifle Paper Co. sent the final art to me when I opened it I actually gasped with excitement. The final collection has lots of details that just really make it extra special. Both sets are wrapped with twine and the journals have the word “notebook” stamped in gold foil and metallic gold printing on the interior texts sheets. It’s swoon-worthy!

GdlM: I love hand-drawn typography and I’m a sucker for those inspirational quotes you see all over Pinterest (yes, I have a board for them) so I have to say my favorite book right now is Everything Is Going to be OK. The artwork in the book is lovely, and a number of my friends contributed work so I’m a bit biased. But ultimately, this little book is like a hug in hardcover (“You are so loved!”), and that’s a beautiful thing.

All of you are pinners in your own right as well: what are your personal interests and projects?

Kate’s “Presents” board

KW: I love to cook and tend to pick recipes based on how delectable the end result looks, so food pins are an essential part of my visual recipe box. Perhaps my most useful board has been my collection of “Presents”—it’s saved the day for so many recent gift purchases!

Kristen’s “In the Garden” board

KH: I love everything about parties and making pretty things! I have a community garden, and really love and am inspired by being in it. I’ve gained a whole new respect for growing food since I started my garden and it’s fun to see what others are doing and be inspired by others in the pinterest world. In the spring, I will be helping my sister design her backyard and we have a shared board for that which is so great! In regards to personal projects, that’s the one I’m probably most excited about!

Guinevere’s “Kid A” board

GdlM: I have a toddler at home, so my most active board is dedicated to kid stuff. I pin project ideas (chalkboard paint!), cool stuff for him (skateboard swing!), and handy tips I want to remember (use baking soda to get crayon off the wall!). I also moonlight as a ghostwriter for a shopping blog, and Pinterest has become my go-to source for inspiration, as well as my online notebook for saving product links for future posts. It makes my life so much easier!

Thanks for taking the time to share all the reasons you pin! You can find Chronicle Books on Pinterest here.

Pinteresting Trend: Saturated Geometric Patterns

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:08:40 -0700

1. Matt W. Moore “Crystals & Lasers” exhibition; pinned by Little Bird Big Chip onto I Like Stuff

2. Cappellini Proust Geometrica armchair; pinned by Ian onto Inside

3. Howkapow mug designed by Matt Keers via MAIYA; pinned by Leila onto The Home

4. Paper garland by Weekday Carnival; pinned by Irina onto Party Perfect

5. Sarah Applebaum installation; pinned by Sage onto Art

Interview with Julie Karatzis & Eugenia Bazigos

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:28:29 -0700

Planning parties, weddings, photo-shoots, and daily dinners: these are all reasons people pin. Home improvement boards are also popular, but building a house from the ground up, on an island in Greece, with your whole family? That’s definitely one of the bigger projects we’ve seen on Pinterest.

So between Julie’s work as a publicist and letterpress printer, Eugenia’s job at Google, and of course lots of pinning and blogging, we caught up with two sisters who are helping their dad’s dream come true.

Julie and Eugenia as kids

First things first, can the Bazigos sisters describe some basics facts about each other?

Julie: We’ve grown up as best friends and have always been there for each other. Eugenia is definitely the little sister in every sense. I embarrassingly used to make her my go-for when we did art projects as kids, “Eugenia, grab me the scissors” and she’d bring them. She’s grown up to be totally independent, marches to the beat of her own drum, works incredibly hard, does what she wants, and doesn’t let anything stop her.

Eugenia: Julie has OCD - this is almost certain. She can’t deal with disorder and is the type who reorganizes supply cabinets for fun. She’s always in the middle of a project - and growing up, I was definitely her little helper :) She’s always inspired me to bring out my inner artsy, but she definitely holds the crown here.

Julie’s Kefalonia, Greece letterpress print

Julie, you’re one-fourth of Secret Agent PR which specializes in design clients including the American Institute of Architects and Dwell Media. You also have your own design and letterpress studio, Cartoules Press. Meanwhile, Eugenia you’re a Berkeley alumna who’s now a Display Advertising Specialist at Google. Are you two competitive at all or did pursuing your own passions lead you to where you are?

E: Other than making a bet with her when I was 12 that I’d get better grades then she did in high school (I won), really not a whole lot. Our parents always encouraged us both and we just wanted to see each other succeed.

J: If anything we’ve always admired each other for the things we’re good at, and help strengthen each other’s weaknesses. I’ve always been the creative one, Eugenia’s always been the smarty-pants, great student. I was also a good student and Eugenia is creative as well, but we each pursued our own passions, while still having interest in each others work.

E: With Julie in PR and me in Advertising, we’re often thinking about the same things from different angles. It’s always fun when our worlds collide and we can seek one another out for professional advice.

J: She loves to attend design events with me, while I enjoy learning about the latest in the tech world from her, so we really balance each other out.

Eugenia’s “Living Room Love” board

From both of your boards, it’s easy to tell you’re both opinionated about design and interiors. How did you get interested in design?

J: I’ve always loved design. As a kid, I wanted to be an architect. I also love art, drawing, and creating so that’s definitely been a constant in my life.

E: Yeah me on the other hand — I’m a late bloomer in terms of appreciating design. I never really had much of an opinion until college. And even then, it didn’t cross over into being an obsession until last year when I moved to a new apartment in San Francisco. Along the way, I’ve taken inspiration from some of the most influential places I’ve lived — the bohemian, eccentricity of Berkeley; Andalucia’s bright colors and geometric patterns, and Greece’s easy lifestyle and beautiful shapes and colors. Pinterest and the rise of Emily Henderson have only perpetuated this obsession.

Julie’s “Studios ‘n Office Spaces” board

J: As I’ve gotten older and more exposed to the design community it became very obvious to me that this is what I was meant to do. Add Pinterest to the mix, and before I know it, it’s 3am and I’m so far down the design rabbit hole. Both my work as a publicist to architects and designers, and as a graphic designer and letterpress printer, I really get to use my educational background in communications, and my self-taught skills in graphic design to live and breath my passions on a daily basis in these various iterations.

Progress on the Kefalonia house, from Julie’s blog

Your family is currently involved in building a house in Greece together. Can you tell us about how this all got started, the location, and your aspirations for it?

E: This was originally our father’s dream. Every summer we’d go to Greece and stay with our grandparents in their village on the island of Kefalonia. Those summers including a packed house full of our cousins, our parents, and our grandparents are some of the best memories of our childhood. I can always remember our father searching for property so that one day we could have our own house to create these memories.

In 2006 he found a piece of land with a sea view (which was number one on his list). Over the next few years he researched a crew of individuals he could trust to help build his dream, and oversee the process while we’re here in the States. It was all very exciting for Julie and me, but during the design stage I think is when we really became more involved.

Julie and Eugenia’s grandparents house in Kefalonia, from Julie’s blog

J: This house is definitely our father’s baby, but he trusts the two of us to infuse the house with great design. I should mention that he’s a mechanical engineer, a designer himself, so debating elements of the house with him can be challenging (and fun) for us, because he loves the practical; we love the pretty. Then throw my mom the artist/teacher, and my husband the banker into the mix, and you’ve got some lively discussion. It’s really brought us closer though, which I think is the point, and I will always cherish having done this with them. We look forward to the memories we’ll all be creating here for a lifetime.

Julie and Eugenia’s group board “Kefalonia House Inspiration”

Clearly a project this big takes a lot of planning: can you fill us in on how you’ve been using your “Kelafonia House Inspiration board”?

J: We actually have two boards. The first is a “Kefalonia House Inspiration” board, which is composed of images from other homes in Kefalonia, and Greece in general, that have inspired us. The second is called “Kefalonia House Products” and it’s composed of items we’ve already chosen for the house. It’s been really helpful for both of us to collaborate and put our visual ideas in one place where we can make notes, “at message” each other with our thoughts, and even show our family the board to illustrate what we’re envisioning.

E: Thankfully we only ask our parents to click on links - they aren’t exactly techies.

J: Pinterest is allowing us to pull together all of our family’s disparate design styles, and visually see if they can actually work together.

Views in Kefalonia, from Julie’s blog

Have there been any major challenges along the way?

E: Oh man. Yes. We have way too many chefs in the kitchen. And speaking of chefs, deciding on the specific elements of the kitchen has been the hardest part.

J: When you think about how we’re building this house from over 6,500 miles away, so far things are running pretty smoothly. We’re so blessed to have family who live there year round who can check in from time to time, and we’ve hired a fantastic crew of professionals who have been doing a great job. If you consider the fact that my parents and Eugenia live in the San Francisco Bay Area, while my husband and I live in Long Beach, I’d say we’re pretty organized about getting this done.

E: There’s definitely a lot of Skyping going on to discuss details and the Pinterest boards really help pull that together.

Besides the house, are there other reasons you use Pinterest?

Eugenia’s “All Hallows” board

E: I’m currently organizing all sorts of ideas for Halloween. I’ve been finding so much inspiration as I plan for a party I’m throwing. Other than that, I use it all the time for inspiration and general happy procrastination.

J: Personally I love using Pinterest to curate my favorite design items, and to create visual wishlists of things I’d like to purchase for our home here in Long Beach. Professionally I use Pinterest to catalogue items that inspire me, whether it be in my stationery design, or packaging. I also write a blog, so I use Pinterest to visually capture the items I want to include in a post, and then I can easily site where the image came from by referencing my pin boards.

Thanks so much for sharing some memories and stories with us! You can follow the progress of the Bazigos house in Kefalonia on Julie’s blog here.

"Pinning With Purpose"

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:06:20 -0700

Source: Christine’s pins

If you love pinning and you have your own business or brand, here’s an event that might interest you.

Pinner, blogger, and former small-business owner Christine Martinez is teaching a class in the SF/Bay Area on Thursday, November 3rd titled “Pinning With Purpose: How To Build Your Brand With Pinterest.”

The topics include: how you can pin to build a brand story, how to perform your own market research, and how to reach new audiences with your boards. Most importantly, you’ll learn how to do this without breaking the #3 Etiquette rule: pinning purely for self-promotion.

Get the rest of the info and sign up here.