Examining Pinterest’s Board Creation Experience: A Usability Test
Pinterest is a website where users share images (called ‘Pins’), usually for inspiration, aesthetics, design, etc. There are three main functions on the website:
Creating ‘Pins’ - Adding your own images, videos, etc. to the platform.
Creating ‘Boards’ - Collections of Pins for different purposes, usually when collecting inspiration for projects, aesthetics, ideas, etc.
Commenting/Interacting: Like other social medias, Pinterest has community interactions like ‘Likes’ and ‘Comments’
Of these, one of the more commonly acknowledged parts of Pinterest is the Board creation functionality.
As part of a graduate UX research course, I conducted a usability study on Pinterest’s board creation experience. The platform offers two main flows for creating a board—via a user’s profile or while saving a pin—but it was unclear which method users preferred, especially for new or occasional users.
This project aimed to evaluate ease of use, usability, and task success for each flow, and to make evidence-backed UX recommendations.
Research Goals
Research Questions
Since Board creation is one of the website’s main functionalities, there were two questions we wanted to address:
RQ1: How do users feel about the current overall experience of creating a board on Pinterest?
RQ2: Is there a method of board creation that users prefer? A method that is considered easier and more usable?
Goals
The goal for these tests is to explore the way users feel about the current experience of creating a board on Pinterest, which is one of the website’s core features. Being one of the main functions of the website, it is important to examine what works for the experience, whether users are satisfied with the experience and can successfully complete these functions. Additionally, another goal is to discover existing usability issues in the flow to create a Pinterest board.
Hypotheses
From these research questions, we have the following hypotheses:
H1: Users will rate the current experiences of board creation on Pinterest as overall high in perceived difficulty and low in usability.
H2: Users will have a high failure rate of board creation with the current methods, a higher number of average misclicks, and will take more overall time.
H3: Users will indicate more overall preference for the pin-saving method of board creation over creating a board from the profile.
a: Users will take significantly less time to create a board by using existing pins when compared to the time taken to create a board from scratch through the profile.
b: Users will misclick when locating the board creation option in their profile more often than when creating a board during the pin-saving process.
c: Users will find the process of creating a board from the pin-saving flow easier and more usable than creating a board from the profile.
d: Users will abandon the board creation process more often when starting from the profile compared to when prompted during the pin-saving flow.
Figma Prototype of of the two methods (taking a profile that already has boards on it):
Variables of Interest
Following are our variables of interest:
Perceived difficulty: The task-level difficulty according to the user, aka how difficult they found the process. This will be measured with the SEQ (Single Ease Question).
Usability: The level of how enjoyable, intuitive, and frustration-free users found the board creation process. This will be measured with the UMUX (Usability Metric for User Experience).
Success/Failure: The Success of the task is defined as when a user successfully navigates and completes the board creation process on Pinterest. Failure of the task is when the user abandons the process midway or is unable to complete it.
Time on Task: The number of seconds it takes for the user to completely create a board on Pinterest from the end of the verbal instructions.
Misclicks: The number of times a user clicks an incorrect button, or a click that diverges from the expected flow.
Methodology
Participants:
N = 5 graduate students from Claremont Graduate University
Screened for minimal Pinterest experience
Experienced with digital platforms (social media, slide tools)
Study Setup:
Moderated, remote usability test using Zoom + Figma prototype
Counterbalanced task order to control for learning effects
Participants completed 2 tasks:
Create a board via Profile flow
Create a board via Pin-Saving flow
Post-task surveys: SEQ (ease of task) + UMUX (perceived usability)
Behavioral data: Task time, misclicks, completion, verbal feedback
Findings
We used Excel for cleaning our data and aggregating difficulty and usability scores, and then analyzed the data using R Studio. We also used Excel for data visualization before running our t-tests, to get a better idea of the way the data was shaping up.
RQ1: How do users feel about the current overall experience of creating a board on Pinterest?
The mean SEQ score for the overall Pinterest board-making process was 5.2 (SD=1.48), and a 95% CI=[3.36, 7.04]. Therefore, I am 95% confident the true mean SEQ score for the population is between 3.36 and 7.04 on a 1–7 scale. This is a very wide margin, and indicates uncertainty due to the small sample, with true usability perceptions potentially ranging from somewhat difficult to very easy. Benchmarking against the industry average of 5.5 places this experience slightly below typical usability standards, though not definitively.
The mean UMUX score of 4.9 (SD=1.08) suggests that users found the experience moderately usable, but not outstanding. The 95% confidence interval [3.55,6.25] indicates that true usability perceptions may range from marginal to very good.
RQ2: Is there a method of board creation that users prefer? A method that is considered easier and more usable?
1. Perceived Difficulty (SEQ)
Profile task Mean: 6.0 Pin-Saving task Mean: 3.4 (on 1–7 scale)
t(4) = 1.81, p = 0.14 (Not statistically significant)
Mean difference: 2.6
95% CI: [-0.46, 5.66]
Effect size: Cohen’s d = 0.81 (large)
Contrary to the hypotheses, the profile-based board creation method was rated easier than the pin-saving board creation method, with a large effect size. However, the result was not statistically significant at p = .144, likely due to small sample size (n = 5). Still, the strong effect suggests meaningful practical differences in perceived difficulty.
Some user insights:
Two users mentioned that their prior experiences of using Pinterest and creating boards on mobile and tablet applications of the site were a much easier experience in comparison to the website, which is something to note regarding differing experiences across types of devices.
2. Perceived Usability (UMUX)
T1 Mean: 5.8 T2 Mean: 4.0 (on 1–7 scale)
t(4) = 1.19, p = 0.30
Mean difference: 1.75
95% CI: [-1.39, 4.89]
Effect size: Cohen’s d = 0.53 (medium)
Again, contrary to our hypotheses, users rated the profile-based board creation method as more usable than the pin-saving method. While not statistically significant, the medium effect size indicates a noticeable user experience difference that might be meaningful with a larger sample.
Some user insights:
Two users mentioned that the pin-saving method contained no real directions to follow, while new users are greeted by a clear button on their profile to help create a new board.
4. Misclicks
T1 Mean: 1.2 T2 Mean: 5.6
t(4) = -1.47, p = 0.22
Mean difference: -4.4
95% CI: [-10.78, 1.98]
Effect size: Cohen’s d = -0.66 (medium-to-large)
Users misclicked less on the profile-based board creation method in comparison to the pin-saving method. The difference was not statistically significant, which may be due to the small sample size.
That said, there was one user in each flow who completed the process with no misclicks.
5. Success/Failure Rates
Success rate for Profile-Based method: 100% (5/5 users completed)
Success rate for Pin-Saving method: 60% (3/5 users completed)
Once again, touching on the same insight from the usability side, the pin-saving method contained no real directions to follow, while new users are greeted by a clear button on their profile to help create a new board.
3. Task Time
T1 Mean: 107.63s T2 Mean: 147.72s
t(4) = -0.99, p = 0.38
Mean difference: -40.09s
95% CI: [-126.49, 46.31]
Effect size: Cohen’s d = -0.44 (medium)
The Profile-based board creation method was completed faster on average than the pin-saving method. The difference was not statistically significant, which may be due to the small sample size.
An insight to note was that all users only considered the board-creation process complete after they had also included 2-3 Pins in the board, despite that not being mentioned in the instructions.
Overall Preference: 60% prefer the Profile-Based Board Creation Process
It seems that, overall, users find the profile-based board creation method easier more usable, and seem to complete it quicker and with lesser misclicks. This is opposite to all our initial hypotheses, which shows a possible disparity in user experience on Pinterest between regular and new/inexperienced users of the site.
Recommendations
Recommendation 1: Clearer CTA in Pin-Saving Method
This recommendation targets the user concern of a lack of clear directions and a CTA for creating a board in the pin-saving board creation process.
When clicking the Pin, I recommend changing the label of the dropdown button from ‘Profile’ or the latest board, to ‘Save to Board’. This gives users a clearer indication of which button to click to reach the board creation button in the menu, while also not affecting other features on Pinterest (since we didn’t test these features, and therefore, cannot determine user perceptions of these features).
Recommendation 2: Less Complex Route from Home Page
The second recommendation targets a common drop-off and misclick point for users in the board creation process, and addresses an insight brought up by a user.
“The method is easy, but I would call it complex because there are so many clicks to get something done. I don’t think it should take this many.”
A common misclick point was the ‘+’ symbol on the sidebar menu on the home page, with 60% of users clicking that, assuming it would let them create a board, only to be directed immediately to where to create a Pin, leading to more confusion. So, using the Profile functionality, I recommend giving users an option to create a board from the sidebar menu from the ‘+’ button addresses where users seem to commonly click, while also addressing the issue of complexity and number of clicks.
Next Steps
Larger Sample Size: Since the results weren’t significant, Pinterest would benefit from testing a larger sample to see whether the patterns persist. According to sample size calculations based on the SEQ, the smallest required sample size for any of the hypotheses was estimated to be 25 participants, which could probably yield more concrete results for this test.
Differing Device Experiences: Since users mentioned an easier experience on mobile devices, testing it to check the current expectations and benchmark can help in redesign. It can also help determine whether users do infact find the mobile experiences easier and more usable in comparison, and what are the differing aspects in the design and experience.
A/B Testing: After making the redesigns and changes, we should conduct a comparison test to make sure that we effectively addressed user concerns of ease of use and usability, as opposed to perpetuating the problems.
Resources:
Detailed Test Plan
Raw and Cleaned Data
Results
Full Research Report
Slide Deck