Want to know how to design Pinterest pins that actually get clicks? You’re in the right place.
A while back, I hired a Pinterest VA who unfortunately tanked my traffic to just 50 visits per month. I took back control and revived my Pinterest traffic within 3 months. With 20 years of experience in graphic design, I’m sharing the best practices, design tips, and standard pin specs to help you create eye-catching, click-worthy pins. Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been pinning for a while, follow this guide to design beautiful pins that stand out in the feed.
Pinterest standard pin specs and best practices
Ideal dimensions and aspect ratios
The standard size for any Pinterest graphic is a ratio of 2×3. Vertical graphics work best.
Pinterest squeezes all of its content into vertical columns of the same width. Horizontal images rarely appear in the feed because they get squeezed down to almost nothing. Stick to vertical.
I design all my Pinterest graphics at 1000px wide by 1500px tall, which is also the default Pinterest pin size in Canva. You can go taller, but don’t push it too far. Pinterest will crop anything that exceeds its maximum height.
Using Rich Pins
Rich Pins pull additional information directly onto the pin, like product details, recipe ingredients, or article headlines. Enabling Rich Pins gives your content more context and makes it more useful to people browsing the platform.
Creating Fresh Pins
The Pinterest algorithm has favored “fresh” pins for a while now. A fresh pin is simply an image Pinterest hasn’t seen before. You can create multiple different images that link to the same blog post, page, or product listing, and each one counts as fresh when saved for the first time.
An easy way to do this: create pins using different titles for the same piece of content, and match the text on the pin image to the title you used. This also helps with search visibility, since different titles can surface your content in different search results.
Use Pinterest templates to quickly create a variety of fresh images without starting from scratch each time. Creative Market is another good source if you want more options.
Optimizing pin descriptions for search
Use relevant keywords in your pin descriptions to improve discoverability through Pinterest’s search function. Think about what your audience would type when looking for content like yours, and work those terms in naturally.
Add a clear call-to-action in your description to encourage people to click through to your website.
How to design Pinterest pins that get clicks
Make your pins pretty
Pretty pins get more saves and clicks. This might sound obvious, but I’ve seen some pretty rough graphics pop up in my feed, and from experience, pretty things perform better. When a pin doesn’t look great, it creates the impression that the content behind it won’t be great either.
When something looks beautiful, professional, and polished, people are more likely to click, save, and share it. Spend time creating Pinterest graphics that reflect the quality of your content.
Create an eye-catching title
Think about what you want to stand out as someone scrolls. A vague title won’t stop anyone mid-scroll. A specific, useful one will.
For example:
- How to launch (too vague)
- How to launch your first online course in 60 days (specific, compelling)
You’re much more likely to click the second one. The same principle applies to your pin design: the text on your graphic is often what makes or breaks the click.
A good free tool for this: CoSchedule Headline Analyzer.
Create a consistent pin style for brand recognition
The more consistent you are with your pin designs, the more recognizable and trustworthy you become. Use a consistent color scheme, typography, and overall aesthetic across your pins.
Branded Canva templates make this much easier. Once you have a template set up, creating fresh pins for the same content takes minutes. Just swap the headline, rephrase the call-to-action, and you’re done.
Want to skip the setup altogether? The Pinterest templates in my shop are ready to customize to your brand in minutes. No design experience needed.
Choose the right color palette
Use your brand colors where possible, since they help with recognition. But if your brand palette doesn’t stand out in the Pinterest feed, it’s easier to experiment on Pinterest than on most other platforms, since your pins mostly appear on their own in search results rather than in a crowded grid.
Creating a few different color variations is also a great way to generate fresh pins that appeal to different people.
Warm color palettes are generally said to outperform cooler ones on Pinterest, but A/B testing with your own audience will tell you what actually works for your content.
Use high-quality images and graphics
Whether you’re using stock photos or your own photography, make sure the visuals are high-quality and aligned with your brand.
Unsplash has beautiful free photos. For premium options, I love Styled Stock Society and Creative Market.
Add large, easy-to-read text
My best-performing pins almost always have very large, easy-to-read text. What looks readable on your screen when you’re designing can become tiny and hard to read once it’s shrunk into a Pinterest column.
Use a text color that contrasts with the background and catches attention as someone scrolls. And always include a call-to-action on the pin itself, not just in the description.
Two things to pay close attention to when adding text to images:
Contrast
Make sure the text is readable. White text on a light background or dark text on a dark image are common mistakes. If your background image is busy, add a semi-transparent white or black layer on top to create contrast. Alternatively, use a solid color overlay in a brand color to help the text stand out.
Position
Center placement is the safest option and generally works well. Avoid placing text right at the edges, as it tends to look cramped.
For a more interesting layout, try the rule of thirds. Divide your image into a 3×3 grid of equal sections. In well-composed photos, the subject usually sits at one of the intersections. Place your text at the intersection diagonally opposite, so the text and subject have space to breathe.
Using Canva to design your Pinterest pins
Canva is an easy and accessible tool for creating Pinterest graphics, and it works with the free plan. Here’s how to get started.
Create a new design
Click “Create a design” and search for Pinterest Pin. Canva’s default size is 1000 x 1500px, which is exactly right.
Add elements to your pin design
Use the panel on the left to add shapes, icons, and photos. Keep it clean and focused: too many elements competing for attention will make your pin harder to read at a glance.
Add text to your image
Click the Text tab on the left and choose a style. If you’ve set up your brand kit in Canva, select your brand fonts directly from there. Make sure the text size is large enough to read easily in a small preview.
If you’d rather not start from scratch, the Pinterest templates in my shop come with 15 pre-designed pin templates in 4 different styles. You can customize them to your brand quickly and start pinning the same day.
Optimizing your pin designs with A/B testing
A/B testing different pin designs tells you what actually resonates with your audience, rather than what you think will. Use Pinterest Analytics to track performance, spot what’s working, and experiment with variations in imagery, text overlay, and layout.
Over time, patterns will emerge. Maybe your audience responds better to text-heavy pins. Maybe a specific color performs consistently well. Let the data guide your design decisions.
Now that you know how to design Pinterest pins, you might also want to make sure your blog images are easy for readers to save. Adding a Pin It button to your website means more of your content gets pinned without you having to do it yourself.
And if you want to make the whole process faster, grab a set of ready-to-use Pinterest templates from my shop. They’re designed to be easy to customize and give your pins a consistent, professional look from the start.
