Pinterest fail!
How many times have you seen your friends joke about trying a craft project or decorating a cake like something they saw on Pinterest or another social network? Or, maybe you’re the one who’s fallen victim to a project turning out nothing like the picture .
Been there, done that, my friends.
A recent example of my own Pinterest fail —
I love St. Patrick’s Day. Typically, I go all out decorating and making both traditional Irish foods and St. Patrick’s Day themed snacks. This year, I invited some friends over for dinner. I spent all day preparing cottage pie (what shepherds’ pie is called when you use beef instead of lamb), cabbage, rolls, and dessert.
When it came to the dessert, I originally planned on shamrock shakes. But then I jumped on Pinterest. I came across a cute idea for an Irish flag jello and pudding dessert. The process involved using lime jello, vanilla pudding, and orange jello to make colored layers resembling the flag of the Republic of Ireland. Working with jello and pudding should be super easy, right?
I started with the green jello. Once that set, I layered on the vanilla pudding, and again, let that set. I topped off the jars with orange jello, and put them in the refrigerator to chill.
Before my friends arrived, I checked to see how my Irish flags looked. The orange was still liquid. For some reason, that layer of jello refused to set. Thankfully, I still had the ice cream for the shakes, so I went back to my original plan.
Even after 48 hours in the refrigerator, the orange layer never set up. I’m no food chemist, but my guess is there was some sort of reaction between the already set pudding layer and the unset gelatin on top. Next year, I know to do things differently if I want to try this again.
USING SOCIAL NETWORKS FOR CREATIVE MOTIVATION
The advent of visual driven social network sites like Pinterest, Instagram, and even YouTube provide creative ideas for pretty much any type of craft, party, or event you could want. A quick search brings up countless images and tips for everything from recipes to party planning to classroom projects for teachers.
Social network platforms have changed the way we interact. And for creatives, they’ve changed the way we search for images and ideas. But like all platforms, the benefits of interaction and sharing ideas can also have a downside.
POSITIVE #1 – Ease of Searching
For anyone looking for a new idea, whether you need a party favor, or you’re a freelance graphic designer looking for advice on using a new design program, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube tutorials provide countless options. Rather than sorting through a lengthy Google search, plugging in a few key terms on Pinterest or YouTube, quickly narrows down your search. Obviously, you still need to do your own research to verify the images and instructions. But the filters on these social network sites give you greater navigation control.
POSITIVE #2 – Visual Cues
We are becoming an increasingly visual society. People are busy. They don’t want to have to read a long list of instructions or sort through dozens of websites to find one piece of information. We want a quick glance, then determine whether or not to look further into the image and/or instructions. Social networks that rely on visual cues give users that quick look they want. Once you put in your search terms, the site brings up a thumbnail image that represent the content. If you’re just looking for pictures, this makes your search especially easy because you can scroll through the images in no time. If you’re looking for an article or video, you probably need a little more time to read through the descriptions and/or look more closely at the images. But this quick glance gives users the basic idea and the opportunity to decide whether or not to look more closely with minimal time investment.
POSITIVE #3 – Sharing Ideas From Around the World
Part of living creatively is trying to come up with new ideas, or taking existing ideas and making them your own. When you see something on a social network site that you haven’t seen before, your own creative instincts kick in. You start thinking about ways to make or alter a project to meet your own needs. Whether a writer looks for traits to round out a character in her book, a bride planning her wedding reception favors, or a third-grade teacher looking for new ideas for science experiments, you can come across new ideas you might never have otherwise found.
DRAWBACK #1 – Going Down the Rabbit Hole
While the search functions of social network sites make finding information easier, this also presents a problem. How often have you found yourself looking for one quick idea, and you soon realize you’ve spent thirty minutes looking at six other types of things? The ease of searches also mean it’s easy to go down the proverbial rabbit hole. You end up moving to other topics and spend hours online rather than working on your project. The images catch our attention. Thus, we want to check out other pictures and videos. You might start out looking for a professional resume template, and end up searching for invitations for your child’ birthday party that isn’t for six months.
DRAWBACK #2 – Comparison Traps
Possibly the most difficult part of using social network sites as a creative resource is the notion of Pinterest failure. Essentially, this is the idea that if your project doesn’t turn out looking like the picture or video where you got the idea, you have somehow failed. While many creative folks can laugh off their less-than-picture worthy attempts, some become intimidated . They might see themselves as creative failures. And in severe cases, some might even consider themselves failures at parenting, teaching, writing, or whatever role they have that led them to search for ideas. While this may be a small number of people, feeling like a failed parent because you didn’t give your child a themed birthday party, or a failed teacher because your bulletin board wasn’t as bright and colorful as an Instagram post, is heartbreaking.
Whether you’re looking for a new recipe, party favors, or ideas for a book cover design, using social network platforms like Pinterest and Instragram offer an easy way to search images and instructions.
When you need some creative inspiration, a quick scan of these sites can spark something for you. But let your own instincts take it from there. Avoid the rabbit hole and comparison traps. Focus on the creation, not whether or not your final product is Instagram worthy.
**What kinds of things do you search for on sites like Pinterest or Instagram? Have you ever tried making something you found on these sites?**
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