Can architecture firms benefit from using Pinterest? Denise Cherry, designer director at San Francisco-based Studio O + A (which counts Facebook, eBay, and Yelp! among its many high-profile clients), describes how the popular content-sharing site is enhancing her practice. Read more.

By Denise Cherry, Design Director at Studio O+A

With its astronomical growth, it would be easy to dismiss Pinterest as just another Next Big Thing. To do that, though, would be to undervalue the service the site can provide to design firms and the design community at large.

Yes, all social media connects—at Studio O+A, my team and I use WordPress to showcase our latest projects and publications, Twitter and Facebook to engage our larger audience, and Instagram to give glimpses into our culture and the people here. But of all social media, only Pinterest has the ability to provide a curated visual representation of our studio’s design process.

Studio O+A doesn’t currently have an account with Pinterest, but a number of us staff members have our own pinboards. (You can see mine here: http://pinterest.com/denisemieko/). We share boards among each other and our clients, and the product’s mobile nature and ease of use ensure that everyone can contribute to the design concept.

Current projects we are culling inspiration for are offices for Zazzle, OpenTable, and Quora, among others. To keep some sense of security, we label the boards only by concept adjectives. Can you guess which board belongs to which future space?

So what makes me pin a particular image? I’m searching across multiple disciplines for unique detailing, unexpected color combinations, and innovative materials—typically, there’s only one gem within an image that compels me to pin it. Seeing them all helps send us in new directions. This could be Pinterest’s greatest contribution.

Pinners we turn to for inspiration:

Mr. Call Designs—A residential design firm based out of Manhattan known for their clean, tailored, but All-American aesthetic, this pinner is great for color inspiration.

Dwell Media—The beloved modern design magazine goes digital. We love that they seem to share our obsessions with everything from the Eameses to neon.

Morgan Satterfield—The Brick House blogger’s eye for the natural, warm, and effortlessly beautiful is always a treat.

Also, be sure to check out Architizer on Pinterest!

Studio O+A has overseen projects for a number of Silicon Valley companies. Here, the firm’s design for the first floor of AOL’s West Coast headquarters (395 Page Mill, completed in 2011). Photo courtesy Studio O+A.

First floor at 395 Page Mill. Photo courtesy Studio O+A.

by Architizer Editors

posted in General social media Uncategorized

tagged AOL, Pinterest, San Francisco, social media, studio o + a, studio O+A

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