Weather Map
Typographic Design
Self-directed academic project
Tools: Adobe Illustrator
April 2018
This was my first abstract project, and one of my favorites, as well. The assignment was simple: take a real weather report from the New York Times and turn it into a visual weather map using only typography. No photos, no illustrations. Just the words themselves doing the work. The project was completed in April 2018.
The concept clicked pretty quickly for me. If the forecast is about rain, why not make the type look like it's actually raining? I took all the weather information and arranged it so it cascaded diagonally down the page, falling straight onto a silhouette of a man holding an umbrella. The umbrella catches the type the same way it would catch rain. That one decision made the whole thing feel cohesive.
The typography changes as you move down the page. The most important information, like "SUNSHINE," is large and bold. Secondary details get smaller and lighter. It's a hierarchy that mimics how weather actually works, where some conditions dominate the day, and others are just background noise.
I also had some fun with the lettering. The word "Sunday" is written as "SUNday,” with “SUN” in uppercase, and the rest in lowercase. It's a small thing, but it ties the word directly to what it describes without being obvious.
The amber rays in the upper right were the finishing touch. I added them to reinforce the word "sunshine" nearby, symbolizing a bit of warmth cutting across the page before the rain takes over below. It's the only non-typographic element in the whole piece, which makes it feel intentional rather than decorative.
The result is a weather report you read and see at the same time. The result is a weather report you read and see simultaneously.