Case studies / Misery Map
Turning a national hobby into a product.
- Discipline
- Product, brand and build
- My role
- Creator and Designer and Builder
- Studio
- NORD
- Live
- miserymap.cool
01 / Overview
Postcode in, misery out.
Misery Map is a NORD side project with one job: confirm what you already suspected, that your town's weather is worse than you thought.
Enter a UK postcode or US zip code and it scores your area on a Wet Register and a Heat Register, adds live conditions, then breaks the misery down: rainfall, rainy days, wind, sunshine, summer heat and a couple of proudly invented stats.
It's a small product with a big personality, built to show how far tone of voice, a tight brand and simple data can take an idea.
02 / The challenge
Make weather data worth sharing.
Weather apps are useful and forgettable. The opportunity was to take real climate averages and live conditions and turn them into something people would actually want to screenshot, send to a friend and argue about.
03 / My role
From idea to live product.
A NORD side project, taken from a throwaway idea to a live product.
- 01Product concept and positioning
- 02Pixel art identity and retro field unit UI
- 03Tone of voice and every line of copy
- 04One input that auto detects UK postcodes and US zip codes
- 05Results, misery breakdown, league table and full map
- 06Build and launch
04 / The vision
Four moments.
Every screen does one thing and gets one laugh.
Land
A public service, allegedly. Brace yourself, then one button.
Scan
One field for a postcode or zip code, with the scanner working out which.
Wait
Even the loading state has a punchline: sweaty tube, smug forecast.
Suffer
Wet and heat scores, a verdict, the full breakdown and where you rank.
05 / Design principles
Serious data, silly delivery.
01
Honest data
Real averages and live conditions, with caveats stated plainly: nearest station match, not hyperlocal.
02
One input
No forms, no settings. A postcode or zip code is all it needs.
03
Personality everywhere
Copy, place names and loading states all carry the joke.
04
Built to share
Clear scores, a one line verdict and a share button on every result.
Product screens
Inside Misery Map
Recreated from the live product at miserymap.cool.
06 / Impact
What it shows.
The product
- A live consumer product covering the UK and US
- Live weather alongside long term averages
- A results page people want to screenshot
For NORD
- Brand, product and build delivered end to end
- Proof that tone of voice can be the feature
- A fast way to test ideas in public
07 / Reflection
Small, silly products are a brilliant place to practise.
Misery Map is proof that personality is a product decision. The data is simple; the voice, the pixel art and the punchlines are what make people share it.
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Felix