Weather-Aware Event Planner

I led product design, PM, and front-end to turn forecast signals into planning decisions. We shipped a wedding-first MVP and kept the system neutral so it can extend to other event types without new UI.

Forecasts tell you the weather, but they don’t tell you what to do. Planners need date-specific tracking and alerts that turn risk into actions.

Who: Couples and coordinators planning outdoor weddings first; the visual system is neutral so it can extend to other events.
Constraints: Shared internal platform; lean on familiar patterns to reduce onboarding.
Success metrics: Faster go/no-go decisions; users can set up tracking in
‍< 60s; emergencies are seen immediately.

Climate volatility increases the uncertainty of planning events; teams need a tool that translates probability into guidance instead of raw data.

I explored the following options for displaying time-relevant weather information:
- Calendar overlays: good for scanning, weak for multi-day windows & thresholds.
- Saved filters: flexible, but abstract and easy to forget; not tied to a concrete event.
- Notification-only rules: low effort, but invisible until triggered.

I introduced Trackers, an event-centric object that bundles date range + thresholds + clear together into a scannable cards.
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This unlocked a couple wins:
- Clarity: numeric forecasts → verbs (“Bring umbrellas,” “Consider rescheduling”).
‍- Leverage: one rules engine and component library that generalizes beyond weddings.
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Early signals: users created a tracker in < 60s in testing.  

Threshold-aware cards: When a user’s metric (e.g., precip > 50%) threshold limit is exceeded, the card turns yellow/orange and elevates the headline stat; a short action line translates it into a decision.‍

User control: Thresholds are editable per Tracker.

‍Progressive disclosure: “+” chips reveal optional conditions so users only see what they need, allowing for fast first-time setup.

Color language: Metric chip colors are stable (precip=blue, temp=orange, wind=green). Alerts use a dedicated warning icon/tint, so metric colors never imply severity.‍

This page shows one tracker’s window (venue + dates) with only the metrics selected for that tracker.

Alerts panel: Threshold crossings roll up as plain-language alerts under the chart (e.g., “Bring umbrellas…”). Guidance lives with the tracker, not in the global weather tab.
Familiar chart, focused context: The area chart uses the same palette as Home, but is scoped to the tracker so trends map directly to decisions for that event.
Edit on demand: Edit Mode toggles configuration without cluttering read mode.

Contract-first collaboration: We wrote the Tracker rule schema together (operators, thresholds, date window) and turned this into a shared spec. This minimized the need for rework: front-end mocked the API before back-end was ready while back-end validated against the same types.

Built a mini design system from scratch: I defined tokens (color, type scale, spacing, radius, shadow) → primitive components (Card, Chip, Modal) → patterns (Tracker card, Edit modal). These changes at the token layer cascaded across the UI and eliminated the need for pixel-pushing.