Designer talk: Vivian Igunbor on growing her career at Pinterest

The Life at Pinterest team sat down with Vivian Igunbor, Product Designer, Growth, to learn more about working on the Pinterest Design team. Based in Seattle, Vivian has been at Pinterest for three and a half years, starting in 2021 when she pivoted from a marketing analytics career to one focused on product design. 

What led you to a career in design? 

Growing up, I was always interested in the process of creation. I remember spending my summers creating websites for fun. Choosing colors, layouts and fonts excited me, and the entire concept of creation sparked so much joy. Ultimately, I decided to pursue a career in marketing analytics out of concern that graphic design wouldn't provide financially. I enjoyed analytics because it allowed me to use data and research to identify problems and understand how users think. However, I still didn't feel satisfied, as I yearned to do more with the data I was working with.

One day I was in a coffee shop in Seattle daydreaming about what I wanted to do. I searched for keywords like customer experience, strategy, marketing, etc. One of the results that piqued my interest was user experience design. I wasn’t previously familiar with the field, but after researching, the joy I felt as a child returned. It combined my love for design, research and problem-solving. I ended up pursuing a one-year certificate program to learn the basics of user experience design. From there, I pursued a master's degree in Human-Centered Design and Engineering and built my portfolio from projects in graduate school and freelance work. Then, I was reached out to by a recruiter at Pinterest. I applied and got the job!

Let’s do a deep dive into your current role at Pinterest. Can you describe your scope of work? 

I work as a Growth Designer on the Pinner Conversions team. My responsibilities include leading the conversion experience for both logged-in and logged-out users, with a focus on prompting users to log in, sign up or download the Pinterest app. Our vision is to create a seamless conversion experience, allowing all users to easily browse Pinterest with the help of timely and intent-based upsells.

Over the past few years, we’ve collaborated as a team to redesign our upsell strategy, aiming to create frictionless browsing with non-intrusive upsells triggered based on user intent and action. The redesign allowed users to more freely browse and find what they were looking for without feeling blocked. These changes led to a substantial increase in engagement and conversion metrics. Currently, we are focused on optimizing the login experience and enhancing account security.

As an employee, what inspires you about Pinterest both as a platform and as an employer?

I absolutely love working at Pinterest! As someone who appreciates visual aesthetics and finds inspiration in beauty, using the Pinterest app is a delight for me. It's wonderful to be part of a company where I genuinely enjoy the product I work on. Pinterest places great value on both its users and its employees. We are obsessed with considering user needs in every step of the product creation process. Additionally, working at Pinterest comes with fantastic perks like work-life balance and PinCon, our internal day of fun and inspiration. Pinterest offers PinFlex, which is a flexible work model with one of the benefits being that you can spend up to 90 days working remotely from another country. It’s perks like these that make working at Pinterest truly rewarding. 

Do you have any advice to those interested in joining the Design team? 

I’ve noticed that designers can get hyper-focused on the interview process and the steps needed to create the “perfect portfolio.” It's easy to forget the excitement you felt for the projects you worked on. People are moved by a good story, and this is what makes you stand out amongst other designers. If you’re passionate about the projects you’ve worked on, then it’s easy to share your work and get people excited about you. When I think about my interview process, it was so much fun sharing my portfolio because it was like going back in time and experiencing the joy of the creation all over again. Focus more on telling the story of how the creation process impacted you and the business and changed someone’s life.

Creating a career you love? It's possible. Explore Design opportunities at Pinterest.