How to Design Beautiful Images That Succeed on Pinterest Boards

Posted on February 18, 2016 | Updated on October 20, 2023

Pinterest is an excellent platform for social engagement, especially if you are trying to reach women as 85% of Pinterest users are female. However, just pinning an image or two to your Pinterest boards won’t guarantee anyone else will see or share those pins. In order to really grab the attention or users and get your post repinned thousands of times, you need truly dynamic images.

Walk on the Red Side

When it comes to getting people to repin your images, color matters. People repin colorful images with high saturation the most. Pictures with red coloring get repinned more often than blue images. Meanwhile, red, orange, and brown images are pinned twice as often as blue ones.

How to Design Beautiful Images That Succeed on Pinterest: Red

Makes Images Wider Rather Than Taller

Images that have a 2:3 aspect ratio get repinned at a rate of about 60% more frequently than tall, narrow images. In addition, images should fill the space and not leave a lot of white space to be truly visually appealing.

How to Design Beautiful Images That Succeed on Pinterest: Taller Images

Add a Call to Action

Although you don’t want to overtake a beautiful image with a lot of text, a clear call to action can drive browsers to click on the image and do whatever the call to action is requesting. The key is to add simple typography that the reader can scan, but to keep the text in a location that doesn’t detract from the image.

How to Design Beautiful Images That Succeed on Pinterest: Use a CTA

Avoid the Face

Adding a friendly face works for print media and some other formats. But researchers found that when Pinterest pins were compared side-by-side, the one without a face fared 23% better than the one with a beautiful face. That means that users related to the faceless pin more and shared it more to their Pinterest Boards.

How to Design Beautiful Images That Succeed on Pinterest: Avoid Faces

Animation Can Help You Stand Out on Pinterest Boards

Don’t underestimate the power of a simply animation to grab your readers’ interest. When a user loads her Pinterest page, she sees a number of different pins from which to choose. If yours is animated, it will automatically stand out from the crowd.

How to Design Beautiful Images That Succeed on Pinterest: Use Animation

Use Multiple Colors

While you do want to include some red, don’t be afraid to use multiple colors. Users tend to respond better to brilliant color than to washed out or white or black only designs. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, but statistically it is the vivid images that draw the most attention.

How to Design Beautiful Images That Succeed on Pinterest: Use Many Colors

5000 or Less

Remember the stats above about taller images not working as well? If a reader has to scroll, and scroll, and scroll, she isn’t as likely to look over or share your pin. As a rule of thumb, keep images 5000 pixels tall or less.

How to Design Beautiful Images That Succeed on Pinterest: 5000 Pixels or Less

Use Visually Interesting Images

Some images are so artistic that they catch your breath and may inspire you to create your own designs. Perhaps the photo was taken from a unique perspective, or maybe the framing is particularly smart. Whatever the reason, these images will catch the eye of your Pinterest followers and encourage them to repin your post.

How to Design Beautiful Images That Succeed on Pinterest: Visually Stunning Images

In addition to creating a gorgeous image that readers will want to click on and share, be sure to add a clear description to your image pin as well. This will allow Pinterest users to clearly see what the content is that you are trying to drive them to.

You can learn a lot by searching through popular images on Pinterest boards and seeing which get shared the most. By taking the time to create beautiful images, you’ll easily find success on Pinterest and beyond.

About The Author

Eleanor Hecks is the Editor-in-Chief of Designerly Magazine, an online publication dedicated to providing in-depth content from the design and marketing industries. When she's not designing or writing code, you can find her re-reading the Harry Potter series, burning calories at a local Zumba class, or hanging out with her dogs, Bear and Lucy.

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