Putting the pin in Pinterest: how DIA brought a bespoke motion system to the inspiration platform

Looking to extend and elevate its identity system, Pinterest reached out to New York and Chamonix-based studio DIA to inject their kinetic know-how into the visual framework of its brand. The key challenge facing the visual discovery platform was the difficulty faced by internal teams and external partners to create consistent and purposeful work. “Pinterest has an extensive visual system,” DIA’s Co-founder Mitch Paone explains. “There are a lot of independent elements that need to work together while maintaining visual hierarchy. It’s difficult to ensure consistency when translating guidelines with the various internal teams and external partners, especially in motion.” 

To remedy this, the team took a step back and established a motion behaviour system that could be implemented across all assets. Alongside this, they created motion toolkits that “empower teams and simplify creative oversight.” Inspired by physics and the Pinterest user experience, DIA honed in on the eponymous pin with a signature motion behaviour – dubbed the ‘Pinterest Push.’ “So when in motion,” Paone continues, “the work not only looks Pinterest, it moves Pinterest.”

“On a granular level, all the visual elements were broken down categorically, and sub-toolkits were developed. This includes the ‘Pin-Grids,’ ‘Push-Pins,’ ‘Collage,’ ‘Typography,’ and standard assets like transitions and lower 3rds,” Paone explains. “All of these are set up to be highly modular and include generative scripts to give control and nuance to any animation,” he adds. “The result is a massive animation toolkit where even a novice animator or editor can quickly create and render commercial-ready brand assets.” Furthermore, “the Pinterest logo animation was a completely new addition to the system, where we combined the ‘Push-Pin’ in 3D to resolve to the logo mark,” he concludes.

DIA

Pinterest