This post is brought to you by the Volvo Joyride Pinterest contest. Learn more at pinterest.com/volvocarsus/volvo-joyride/ or visit @VolvoCarsUS on Twitter.
With over 17.3 million active users (according to AppData), Pinterest is a powerhouse. It was recently reported from RJ Metrics, that most pinboards are categorized under Home, followed by Arts and Crafts, Style/Fashion, Food and Inspiration/Education. There's no doubt, then, that creatives – which includes artists, designers and even people outside of those particular fields – come to Pinterest to seek inspiration. It's shaking up the way we do everything from designing our homes to how we're spending quality time with our kids. Today, we take a look at design as a whole and then check out seven design boards we found on Pinterest that you will show you just how inspirational (and addictive) the social network can be.
First, what is design? In essence, design is all around us, everything man-made has been designed. It's the purposeful and intentional planning of an object or a system. Now, how does Pinterest fuel design? Pinterest displays, in a visually beautiful way, what we feel most passionate about. By allowing us to neatly categorize our images into virtual pinboards, it helps us find, collect, organize and share our favorite images found around the web. That means we're not just discovering great ideas, we're inspiring ourselves and others to tackle creative projects.
Let's take a look at seven very different design boards we found on Pinterest. See which one speaks to you.
1. Interior Design
Have an apartment that's begging for a redesign? Check out Freshome's Apartment Interior Design board to find out how to make the most of it. Launched in 2007, Freshome is a blog that's dedicated to uncovering the latest products in architecture and design. This particular board will lead you to over 200 Freshome posts where you can dive deeper and then figure out what you want to do with your sweet space.
2. Wedding Design
Going to plan a wedding? Check out Style Me Pretty's Wedding Decor board, which currently has almost 200,000 followers, to find inspirational ideas on everything from lighting and flowers to place cards and favors. The popular wedding blog, which brings in over 1.4 million visitors a month, has been featuring fabulous weddings since February 2007. It makes perfect sense, then, that Style Me Pretty's Pinterest has some must-visit boards for wedding design inspiration.
3. Graphic Design
If you're looking for a great general design board that has everything from interesting fonts to clever illustrations, look no further than Paula Cevasco's Graphic Design. The Buenos Aires, Argentina-based graphic designer is a self-professed “web addict” who has 28 boards filled with inspiring ideas. In particular, her Graphic Design board is filled with creative business cards as well as classic logos.
4. Typography
Brooklyn, New York-based art director and designer Thea Kennedy runs Design Quixotic, a site focused on beautiful design. Her love of typography is evident in her board of the same name where she's pinned over 1,000 images that are all related to the art of type. From retro, hand-lettered logos to lovely chalk writings, you'll find an endless amount of inspiration here.
5. Workspace Design
Canadian designer and art director Chloe Douglas, who also runs the site Plenty of Colour, has a board called One Day, a Studio for those looking for some creative workspace inspiration. Inside you'll find 160 pins that show mostly all white spaces brimming with personality. With bright pops of color, these studios will make you wonder what you can do to liven up your workspace.
6. Packaging Design
Seattle, Washington-based visual designer and photographer Chad Syme gives packaging the respect it deserves with his board called Package Design. Here you'll find over 200 pins on everything from retro packaging to creative concepts. His other design-related boards like Graphic Design, Illustration and Print Design are worthy of a look, as well.
7. Day to Day Design (or DIY)
While we've run this art and design website since May of 2008, easily our most popular board on Pinterest is not related to those two subjects. Actually, it's called Cool DIY Projects. As we mentioned earlier in this post, design is everywhere, even in the most simplest of forms – whether that means creating a gorgeous flower wall or wrapping lavender around candles for a wonderful olfactory experience. With over 550,000 followers and growing, we feel as though it's our obligation to keep pinning the most inspirational ideas we can find.
What kinds of creative projects have you found on Pinterest?
