Who designed the modern weather forecast icons?

Today, weather icons seem to be popular with everyone like the alphabet. These are very intuitive symbols: the shape of a curving bubble refers to the clouds, a circle with rays radiating around to show the sun, etc. However, the symbols do not appear. Incidentally this is also an invention! So who thought of these symbols?

The commercial version of the weather map was first introduced by the US Meteorological Bureau in 1910. At that time, it was conceived that the symbols were quite confusing to convey the weather: the hollow circle took place. described as sunny, the black circle expressing rain and wind is indicated by arrows. This symbol system quickly became popular throughout the United States and was used not only by meteorologists but most ordinary residents.

A weather forecast program on the BBC in 1969, the icons are still quite confusing

Until the 1970s, meteorologists still used confusing symbol systems to forecast the weather. It was not until a design student appeared and he changed everything: A set of intuitive, vivid and easy-to-visual weather icons. That's Mark Allen, student at Norwich University of Fine Arts, UK. In fact, the weather symbols used in England at the time were not very friendly to the majority of people and of course, Allen noticed that too.

Like everyone else, Allen watched the weather broadcast program every afternoon on the BBC channel. At that time, the weather forecast program is not as modern as you see on VTV or HTV as today. To describe the weather situation in the areas, the presenter will slide the icons made of magnets on an iron map. At that time, the triangles depicting the rain, the asterisk expressing snowfall, the horizontal lines on a certain area will describe the average air pressure . It is simply that. .

One day, Allen came up with the thought: "They still use hieroglyphs from ancient times and confuse people? Why does a triangle describe for a scattered shower! ?! " Finally, in the graduation project made in 1974, Allen chose the theme of redesigning weather icons. At that time, Allen consulted the symbolic patterns of Otl Aicher, who used the circles to weave together to create the Olympic symbol in 1972.

The prototype of the new symbols designed by Allen was immediately used by the BBC

Based on that inspiration, Allen used the same style to design weather icons. Allen used a closed line to describe the clouds, adding simple symbols below: water droplets would describe rain, lightning icons or add lines on the side to describe the light. sunshine. Allen said: "The center of the icons will be cloud and from here will create all the remaining weather conditions".

Soon afterwards in 1975, BBC television accepted Allen's logo design and bought the rights to use the icon set for £ 200. Currently, Allen's first drawing is still preserved to this day. These are the most elegant and friendly weather icons for everyone at that time. The messy symbols used many decades ago have been changed in a much more modern way. However, it is still black and white images.

By the 1980s, the advent of computer graphics gave designers more powerful tools to standardize weather symbols. However, due to configuration limitations, the icons still have low resolution and do not support many colors. Mike Nelson, a meteorologist working for ColorGraphics Weather Systems, said: "You only have 16 colors to design. All you create is within that limit."

It wasn't until the late 1980s, when the computer system was advanced enough that designers could draw their own, more detailed symbols based on the original prototype. At the same time, weather forecast information also began to be posted on websites and mobile phones. Since then, weather icons have been differentiated in a more detailed and vivid way. However, the "cloud icon" is still an important component in the entire weather system.

The weather forecast icons are being used on Microsoft Windows Phone

Around 2000, the meteorologist working for the Texas weather forecast station, Dennis Cain, designed a set of weather symbols gathered from images: rain on the street, wind turbines, headlights in the fog This . has become the standard image on the prestigious weather forecast site at US Weather.gov.

In 2011, the BBC finally stopped using Allen's weather symbols . The designers said: "The current weather information is being updated in the direction of containing more detailed information and data. That requires a new set of weather icons to meet. get a balance between the aesthetics and the richness of the content ". It is a set of animated icons, beautiful images with high resolution and displays many different states of the environment.

The weather icon on Apple's iOS 7, the flat design is modern but does not lack a cloud icon

As we now realize, weather applications are a driving force for BBC change. That's the birth of Apple's iOS app with a completely modern design. Or the iconic version of HTC also contributed significantly to shaping the current weather icon standard. Instead of rigid icons, what we're seeing right now on the phone screen are animated icons like they're witnessing in reality. Even so, the original cloud-centric idea still affects designers not only today but also in the future.