Why did no one tell me Pinterest was a design haven?

I’m not a homemaker. I don’t do crafts. I have never personally created a meme or quote block. But I’m still a little shocked that someone hasn’t dragged me onto Pinterest. The designer in me is jumping with glee now that I’ve finally signed up for an account. Although I’ve gone to Pinterest for inspiration a number of times, I think part of the joy of actually having an account is the constant flood of colors and quotes and examples from all across the web. Following boards on Pinterest is inadvertent advertising and inadvertent inspiration all wrapped up into one.

If that’s the case, why is Pinning such a guilty pleasure? Only a couple of my close friends have told me that they maintain an account and only a sprinkling of other people from my wider social network have connected their accounts with Facebook. It is different from other social networks – you’re connected to a community of people based on interests rather than familiarity. But that’s also why I think it has the potential to be incredibly beneficial on a professional rather than personal level.

Although I read a lot of articles about Pinterest when it was on the rise in 2011 and a lot of analysis of Pinterest’s users, I still think there’s a lot of potential for profit if they cordoned off a certain section of their site to those more career-minded in the maintenance of their boards. Although people are already creating boards for the top examples of magazine layouts, yearbook pages, and web design, it would be interesting to see some type of visual or social accreditation system that allows people to promote their boards themselves as something that people can learn from rather than all of pages external to Pinterest itself. Food for thought.

There’s half a chance this has all been said before. Pinterest is an Internet establishment at this point. When I was first exploring the site, accountless, I simply scrolled through the home page with its endless list of dresses and recipes; while I enjoyed them for a while, it wasn’t the type of thing that got me hooked, line and sinker. But I think it’s time for me to reconnect with the world’s 3rd largest social network.

Tips for Reading Infographics

Below is one of the many infographics found on in the article 16 Infographics About Infographics – Urlesque. Most of them are biting graphs mocking the phenomenon of making those pretty graphs in the first place. Considering that I’m a big fan of these graphs, why would I share this harsh article? I share it because they’re right.

People accuse infographics and their creators of taking somewhat skewed and poorly gathered information and presenting it in the most glossy way possible. Besides the fact that they’ve just described some marketing, regardless of all their faults they are a wonderful way to engage people who generally fear numbers and statistics. The problem is in the data. That’s why I’ve thoughts of  a few rules for critiquing infographics:

1. Question the creator. If the person who created the graphics obviously has a conflicting interest in what’s presented, reevaluate what they’ve presented.
2. Check how many people were questioned for the statistics.  67% of 1000 is very different than 67% of 15.
3. Check the source of the numbers. I recently stumbled upon an infographic that pulled most of its data from Wikipedia. As informative as the site is, its not my most trusted place for concrete facts.
4. Judge the clarity and flow. If you clearly see a connection and a “story” developing from top to bottom, someone’s at least put some effort into its creation. Flashy graphics everywhere can be fun but incomprehensible is incomprehensible.

Infographics are here to stay. We just need to make sure that we don’t take them at face value. Read and interpret them. Like the news. And research papers. They’re a tool. Lets make sure their creators/designers aren’t the ones manipulating us.

I also stumbled on a list of resources of where you can try your hand at making infographics yourself!