How to Create a Unique Pinterest Pin Style for Stand Out Pins

If you want to design better Pinterest images that will catch your ideal viewer’s attention and have people drooling all over their keyboards, tablets, and smartphones, then you’re in the right place.

There are dozens of pinning strategies and numerous things you need to do to ensure your account is optimized and functioning at peak performance, but there’s one thing you need to figure out (and nail!) before you dig into all of that.

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First Things First, Your Pinterest Images

You need to first learn how to design eye-catching Pinterest images for all of that amazing content you’ve been writing on your blog or website.

But where do you start? Most people will begin with a blank document and literally not know what to do next. This leads to ugly Pinterest images that don’t work for you or your audience. I don’t want you to fall into this trap and get stuck wondering where all your traffic is and trying to figure out where you went wrong.

Before you jump into any design program and stay whipping out Pinterest pins, you need what I call “Pin-inspiration.” Pin-spiration is the process of gathering inspiration for your own Pinterest images, from other people’s pins.

Why do you need inspiration? Because often, you simply don’t know where to start. You don’t feel creative enough to start from scratch, and you’ll spend way too much time (that you don’t have!) spinning your wheels.

If you’re ready to skip the small talk and get TOTALLY INSPIRED to create your next batch of fresh pins, you’re not going to want to miss my free on-demand Pin Design Workshop that I created just for you! Click that link to register – you can watch it right now!

This training is going to put you on the fast track to creating beautiful pins that actually convert.

You’re going to learn SO many things… including:

• The basics of Pinterest pin design
• How to increase your recognition and visibility
• How to design the PERFECT Pinterest pin
• Tips for standing out and looking unique in the feed
• How to save massive time creating pins

Related: 8 Pinterest Pin Design Tips for Beginners

What better place to look for inspiration for your own Pinterest images, than Pinterest, itself!

The goal here is not to “steal” other people’s great design ideas. What we’re aiming to do is to first nail down some styles, colors, fonts, imagery and even different pin layouts that you feel are a good representation of your brand.

Don’t forget that when you are working on growing your Pinterest account, you are not pinning for yourself. You are pinning for your AUDIENCE. As you build your inspiration board, you want to consider the styles and colors your audience likes. The good thing is, is that you’ll naturally collect pins that YOU like as well. It’s a win-win.

Alright… Let’s do this!

Create a Board and Get Pinning!

You might want to grab your favorite beverage and get comfy. It’s time to get lost on Pinterest for a few hours. (Or however long it takes you to gather your pin-spiration.)

In Pinterest, create a new SECRET board. This board is for your eyes only! You can call it anything you like, but something like Pinterest Pins I Like, or Pin-spiration will do.

Start browsing through your feed and pinning anything and everything that catches your eye to your secret board. In the description, add what it is about the pin that you specifically like so you can be reminded later. Is it the color? The font? The design element that was used? The image?

Outside of your feed, you can search for keywords like “color palettes” “font combinations” and even “mood boards”. When you find a pin you like, scroll down to the “more like this” section and see what other similar pins appear.

Related: The Beginner’s Guide to Creating Canva Pinterest Templates + Video Tutorial

You don’t have to stay on Pinterest for this exercise. You can visit any website and pin directly from the website to your board. Check out your favorite stock photo websites and pin images you’re drawn to. There is no limit to the type of pins you can pin! I find myself pinning everything from creative quotes to home decor.

Basically, pin anything and everything that resonates with you. The next thing you’re going to do is narrow down all of your collected Pinterest images and pull a style together for your own pins.

When you feel like you’ve collected enough pins, you’re ready for the next step.

Related: 12 Pinterest Pin Mistakes to Avoid for Pins Your Audience Will Love

Narrowing Down your Pinterest Images

Now that you have dozens and dozens of Pinterest images pinned to your secret board, it’s time to narrow it down (and possibly even expand if needed !) to something you can actually use.

Looking at the pins, are there any you can get rid of? Delete them from your board. This process of elimination is the first step to narrowing down YOUR specific style.

With the pins you have left, are you able to form any kind of theme or group of images that have the same style?

Start organizing any groups of pins into sections of your secret pin-spiration board. For example, you may have a category that is made of up more feminine, pastel colors and styles, and another category that contains bold and bright styles.

Chances are, while you are organizing your pins you are going to start to see your own unique style forming right before your very eyes!

Once you’ve organized your pins and have a set of images you’re feeling great about, you may want to expand on that specific style a bit more.

This is where you can fill in in the blanks and round out your pins style going forward. When you know what you like, designing your own Pinterest images becomes SO much easier. You’ll always have a starting point so you won’t be starting from scratch every time you need to design a pin.

Creating a Mood Board

Now, onto creating your mood board.

Start by creating a folder on the desktop of your computer called “Mood Board”.

Drag all of the Pinterest images, or take screenshots of any image you want to include in your mood board into this folder.

If you haven’t yet, head over to Canva.com and create an account. Canva is a great free tool that you can use to organize your brand style outside of Pinterest. If you’re new to the program, head over to this Canva tutorial and watch the video to get an idea of how it works.

In Canva, upload all of these images to your image library. If you’re using Canva for work, you’ll be able to create a folder to better keep the images organized in one convenient place.

In Canva, run a search for “mood board” to find a layout that suits your fancy.  Once the layout is open, start dragging your images into the frames provided.

Once you have your mood board filled in, sift through your images and determine what elements you can pull for your own Pinterest images. You’ll want to make sure you have a few fonts to use, a selection of colors (4-5), images, and design elements.

Determine your Pinterest Image Style

Use the images you’ve collected for your mood board (and head back over to Pinterest and search some more if you need additional ideas) to round out your style for your own Pinterest images. You’ll want to choose a set of fonts, a color palette, and a style of images to use to create your own pins going forward! This will make it much easier than starting out with a blank document every time you want to create a pin. (Pinterest loves it when you pin new pins, so this should be as often as possible!)

You don’t have to try too hard at this point to brand your pins. If you are just getting started, this will most likely come naturally as you go through the process of picking what you like and designing your first pins.

I can’t wait to see what you create, and don’t forget to sign up for my free ON DEMAND Pin Design Workshop, The 5-Part Pin Design Formula!