My Role: Product Designer | Duration: 3 months | Platform: App | Tools: Figma

Expanding Pinterest’s Visual Identity Through Personalization

Introduction

Pinterest helps people discover and save ideas through images and videos, widely used for inspiration and planning. Currently, Pinterest provides Light and Dark themes, yet users repeatedly ask for colors that better reflect their personal aesthetic.

Feedback from 100+ users highlights demand for expanded color choices, especially a light pink theme.

Problem Statement

Pinterest offers limited visual customization, even though users ask for more color options, with a light pink theme mentioned repeatedly.

My Goal

I aimed to design a theme that expands color personalization while maintaining usability, accessibility, and consistency with Pinterest’s visual system.

Design Direction

To address repeated user requests for more color options, I designed a pink theme that enhances personalization while preserving usability and brand consistency.

Interface Design

Overview of key screens in Original UI vs Pink Theme

Below is a closer look at how the theme adapts across key product surfaces without disrupting familiar interactions.

1. Homefeed

The homefeed introduces the pink theme while preserving clarity, hierarchy, and accessibility, enhancing personalization without disrupting familiar patterns.

Key Adjustments:

Stronger visibility in navigation

Active and inactive states in the top and bottom bars were refined for clearer recognition.

Active: #1A1A1A
Inactive: #606060

Pin separation using soft boundaries

A subtle pink border (#F8D1DC) was added around pins to gently distinguish content blocks, improve scannability, and maintain visual structure without adding heaviness.

Balanced background usage

Instead of applying pink across the entire surface, the base background remains #FFFFFF. This prevents visual fatigue, keeps content readable, and allows the accent color to stand out with intention.

Accessibility validation

Contrast was tested across key navigation and content elements against the light pink navigation surfaces (#FFE5ED) and Background (#FFFFFF) and meets WCAG requirements.

Top bar / Active text: Pass
Top bar / Inactive text: Pass
Bottom bar icon / Active: Pass
Bottom bar icon / Inactive: Pass
Pin overflow menu: Pass

2. Pin Opening & Interaction

Key Adjustments:

To introduce the new color direction without altering the established layout, several targeted UI refinements were implemented.

The liked state was updated to #FF6C9A, creating a clear, emotionally expressive signal while remaining consistent with the surrounding palette

To preserve legibility and achieve stronger contrast, the primary Save action uses a deeper pink (#E4014D) paired with semibold label styling. This ensures the control meets WCAG AAA requirements while maintaining visual harmony.

The back control applies a 30% tint of #FF749F, and the Visual Search icon applies a 70% tint of #FFE5ED, reducing prominence and supporting proper action hierarchy.

Together, these adjustments introduce personality while safeguarding usability, readability, and behavioral familiarity.

3. User Profile

Key Adjustments:

Improved Spacing
Increased spacing between the username and follower/following counts, as well as between the follower/following counts and the “Edit profile” button, to create a cleaner layout and improve visual breathing space.

Edit Profile Button Styling
Updated the “Edit profile” button with a fill color of #FFE5ED and text color #1A1A1A. This ensures strong contrast with the background (#FFFFFF), achieving a contrast ratio of 14.65:1 for better accessibility and readability.

Personalised Profile Card Feature
Maintained the original layout while introducing a new icon for the “Personalised Profile Card” feature, enabling users to share their profile across multiple social platforms, enhancing personalization and social engagement.

With that foundation in place, let’s dive into the new feature.

4. Profile card

Key features:

Personalization

This feature generates a unique aesthetic profile based on a user’s Pinterest activity. It also includes a short personalized description that reflects their style and interests, creating a card that visually represents their vibe.

Sharing & Discoverability

The profile appears as a shareable card that can be posted on platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp, as well as other social apps. Its visually engaging design makes it easy to share and helps increase discoverability beyond Pinterest.

Interaction & Access

The card includes quick action buttons to visit the profile instantly or send a direct message in one click. While similar to an Instagram Profile QR, it provides a more personalized and dynamic experience.

After finalizing the design, I moved into the testing phase of the case study. I conducted a usability test to evaluate how users responded to the new Pink Theme and whether they found it visually appealing and easy to use.

Usability Testing

Objective: To evaluate user response to the Pink Theme in terms of visual appeal, usability, and overall experience.

Participants: The usability study included 8 participants between age group (15-30) who use Pinterest on a near-daily basis.

Method: Participants were shown the original Pinterest screens along with the redesigned Pink Theme static screens and the “View Pin” animated interaction. All materials were shared online so participants could review the designs independently.

After reviewing the screens, participants completed a short survey to provide feedback on visual appeal, comfort, readability, and overall theme preference.

~The survey was conducted using Google Forms with 7 closed-ended questions

and 1 open-ended question.

Key Metrics

Visual Appeal – How attractive users find the Pink Theme.
Color Comfort – Whether it feels comfortable for extended use.
Readability – Clarity of text and content.
Animation Smoothness – How balanced the interaction feels.
Theme Preference (Pink vs Light vs Dark) – How many users would choose Pink over the existing themes.

Results

1. Visual Appeal

87.5% of users (7 out of 8 participants) said they liked the design, while 12.5% (1 participant) did not prefer it.

Insight: Most users liked the Pink Theme’s visual design.

2. Color Comfort

50% of users (4 out of 8 participants) found the Pink Theme comfortable, while the other 50% said it was mostly comfortable. No participants reported discomfort.

Insight: The theme supports comfortable browsing overall, with minor color adjustments noted as a possible future improvement.

3. Readability

87.5% of users (7 out of 8 participants) found the text easy to read, while 12.5% (1 participant) said it was mostly readable. No users reported difficulty reading the text.

Insight: The redesign maintains strong readability despite the new color theme.

4. Animation Smoothness

75% of users (6/8) found the animation smooth, while 25% (2/8) felt neutral about it. No users reported that the animation was not smooth.

Insight: The animation was generally perceived as smooth and did not disrupt the browsing experience.

5. Theme Preference (Light vs Dark vs Pink)

75% of users (6/8) preferred the Pink Theme, while 25% (2/8) preferred the Dark Theme. No participants selected the Light Theme.

Insight: Most users preferred the Pink Theme, indicating it is a strong new theme option.

Usability Testing Outcome

The usability testing data showed strong results, with 75% of participants preferring the Pink Theme and positive feedback across usability metrics, indicating that iteration was not required at this stage.

Expanding Pinterest’s Visual Identity Through Personalization

Introduction

Problem Statement

My Goal

Design Direction