Okay Weather
A refined solution for a weather app that only gives you what you need.
Self made project
6 weeks of work across a year
I always wanted to have built something of my own. A product that would be real and available on the market for people to try. But being in school I knew that I would need experience to even get started in Product Design. So I thought there should be a way to gather all my skills a deliver a light version of something.
That is when the Idea of Okay Weather comes along, while it might seem complicated I knew I would find enough online materials to learn and debug every issue I might find. Okay weather is also a new take on weather application, going against super weather dashboards we often get from other apps.
Problem statement:
I want to build a weather application that delivers only the important information and doesn’t require extended navigation.
The first step is to analyse and build tests models
What are even weather applications and what can we learn from them? While I knew these apps were often complicated was there really an issue? What are the good things we can get inspired from, what are the important stuff and what could be or take on this matter?
As this would also be the first time I code something the first versions were built for limited tests and usage.
Competitor Analysis
Personal review of other weather applications
Early Wireframes
The alpha version was developed for limited test only
An occasion to learn more about app development
Thankfully there is plenty of resources regarding app development available online, they helped me get started. I learned a lot in Javascript, web development and public API integrations.
The few bits I have learned is also something I like to share
Improving code and design at each iteration
Over the course of the year, I received multiple helpful feedback, improve in both coding and design. I also had to deal with the privatisation of the API I was using and rewrite the entire application core.
The most important changes happened to the “current weather” information where the goal is to provide something useful to people.
Playing with fun icons
As a designer, it’s always a pleasure to work on an icon and illustrations systems.
From the first time I learned making illustrations to today I tweaked and improved these icons 3 times in the search for a friendly feeling application.
Creating marketing content for app distribution
While we don’t always have a budget for a marketing campaign. It is always important to think beyond the product, having a landing page, and content to support product listing on various marketplace.
It is an extra step that I enjoy making, knowing it would support my efforts.
Learnings & outcomes
The first real application developed
This project is a step in almost every field of product development. It helped me better understand managing priorities from the product owner, developer needs, as well as marketing & distribution requirements.
In this project, I gather multiple feedback and learn a way to integrate interactions at multiple stages of development. I understand better now that a product can only be improved after it’s release and there is always room to learn and improve.
