Pinterest is a popular app for saving ideas as "pins" to boards. However, with recent updates, the mobile version's user flow for saving a pin has seen a marked drop in efficiency while entirely missing out on the visceral experience of pinning things to a board.

As part of my larger pursuit of developing a UX practise that harnesses emotional design, I set out to discover a more engaging and emotionally-driven interaction pattern for Pinterest.

For a closer look at the framework itself, here is an article.

It was clear that these issues needed to be addressed given the overwhelming community feedback.

The Mechanics-Dyanamics-Aesthetics model provides us perfect framework to create emotional impact.
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While MDA is primarily used in game design for analysis of mechanics, retrofitting this framework with the appropriate UX tools, principles, and methodologies familiar to, us we are able to use it generatively.

We start with defining an aesthetic (not just visual, but emotional), then determine the dynamics that evoke that aesthetic, and finally incorporate the necessary mechanics to achieve those dynamics.

Pinterest excels in product concept and voice, particularly through its metaphorical pinning-to-a-board idea, which reflects the real world. The dominant visual aesthetic adopted by them is minimal, emphasizing clean design and functionality to highlight content.

For our redesign, let us try and introduce a bit more of a tactile feeling to the app that evokes the emotional response of pinning a paper clipping to a corkboard.

To define the appropriate dynamics needed to create our intended aesthetic, I created user flows with an in-depth task analysis for each step.
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The first flow involved a drag-and-drop interaction pattern, to help create the sensation of pinning an item to a pinboard. I knew I had to be deliberate, so I used design guidelines outlined by the NN/g Group and Steven Hoober.

Finally, I ensured the atomic components like UI, microinteractions, animation and sound all came together to double down on delight and ease of use.
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Where there was scope to rehaul the original visual design, I decided to work within the constraints of the design system already in place to ensure a seamless transition to the new interaction patterns.