{"id":125418,"date":"2021-07-30T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-30T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/news\/?id=kf623ldf"},"modified":"2021-07-30T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T15:00:00","slug":"behind-the-design-carrot-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2021\/07\/30\/behind-the-design-carrot-weather\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Design: Carrot Weather"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/div>\n

Generally speaking, weather apps don\u2019t threaten your life. <\/p>\n

They don\u2019t insult your life choices. They don\u2019t tell you that the sun makes your skin look, and we\u2019re quoting here, \u201clike curdled oatmeal.\u201d And they rarely, if ever, try to conquer the world.<\/p>\n

Carrot Weather<\/em> does all three \u2014 pretty much on a daily basis. But that\u2019s not the most interesting thing about the meteorological marvel created by mild-mannered Philadelphia native Brian Mueller. Prior to launch, Mueller had no background in development, less background in meteorology, and frankly seems way too nice to have won an Apple Design Award with an app that routinely calls those who use it \u201cmeatbags.\u201d<\/p>\n

No, the most interesting thing is this: Underneath his humble (and objectively non-murderous) exterior, Mueller knew that meme-worthy jokes wouldn\u2019t be enough \u2014 Carrot<\/em> had to be a best-in-class weather app, too.<\/p>\n

\"iPhone<\/div>\n

\u201cThere are basically two apps here,\u201d says Mueller, who codes, designs, illustrates, and writes the (often real-time) gags himself. \u201cOne is an entertainment app \u2014 something you want to open apart from learning about temperatures and conditions. The other is a professional weather app. I wanted both.\u201d<\/p>\n

He got them. Carrot Weather<\/em> presents its meteorological metrics \u2014 humidity, UV index, and sunrise and sunset \u2014 in splashy, colorful screens that match its acerbic voice. (\u201cDoes the sun really think he can hide? We see you behind those clouds, stupid star.\u201d) The app is available on for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. And earlier in 2021, Mueller released an update that lets users customize Carrot<\/em> however they please, creating, in essence, a \u201cChoose Your Own Weather App\u201c experience (albeit one that occasionally threatens you with scary clowns).<\/p>\n

\"*Carrot<\/p>\n

*Carrot Weather*\u2019s creator, Brian Mueller<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s a long way to go for a guy who started developing on the side seven years ago while pursuing a full-time career as \u2014 not entirely surprisingly \u2014 a screenwriter. \u201cI\u2019m an English major with a creative writing minor,\u201d Mueller says. \u201cI love to write and create characters and tell stories, but I had no real idea of what I would do with my life.\u201d He found the idea of apps intriguing, but had no experience to draw from. \u201cI figured if I was going to build an app, I\u2019d just hire someone to do it for me,\u201d he says. \u201cI got a book on iOS development, mostly so I could flip through the vocabulary and not sound like a complete idiot. But it wasn\u2019t anywhere near as over my head as I thought, so I just started building.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a matter of months, Mueller had his first title, a to-do list app called Grailr<\/em> whose mascots were an Indiana Jones-type character and his cartoon dog sidekick. \u201cThe dog\u2019s name was Sir Waffles, and he had a top hat and monocle,\u201d Mueller laughs. \u201cI liked him. But it was way too hard for me to animate a cartoon dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, he popped into Photoshop, drew a simple pattern of three circles, and then began playing around with animation, eventually landing on a nefarious-looking pulsing red light drawn straight from the HAL and GLaDOS school of evil sentient robots. \u201cThere was no genius idea,\u201d he says. \u201cThat was basically the extent of what I could do in Core Animation in iOS at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Vector<\/div>\n

This necessity became Carrot<\/em>\u2019s look. Her dark, devious personality, however, comes from those closest to Mueller: his mom, sister, and wife \u2014 all of whom tease one another relentlessly. (Sister Beth, for instance, commemorated Carrot<\/em>\u2019s Apple Design Award win by emailing him the following: \u201cYou\u2019re probably getting lots of congratulatory messages, so I just wanted to remind you that you are the worst.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the dialogue for Carrot<\/em> is drawn out of stuff that we\u2019ve actually said to each other,\u201d he says. \u201cEvery time my wife says something funny, I write it down. Sometimes she gets annoyed by that, but she\u2019s a lot funnier than I am.\u201d <\/p>\n

With his robot ready, Mueller began releasing a series of apps \u2014 Carrot To-Do<\/em>, Carrot Fit<\/em> \u2014 all with the same distinct approach to motivation. His to-do list yells when you fail to complete a task. His alarm clock mocks you for sleeping in. His fitness app shames you for slacking off. <\/p>\n

Weather was a logical next step. Carrot Weather<\/em> began strictly as an entertainment app \u2014 one that leaned in entirely on Mueller\u2019s digital doppelganger. \u201cIt was a cool, gimmicky kind of thing, and people liked it,\u201d he says. But over time, people started asking for more metrics: cloud cover, wind speed, pressure. Data, data, and more data. \u201cI\u2019d spend an hour or so sketching and figuring out how to fit things in,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s how I started learning how to solve design challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Early<\/div>\n

The inaugural version of Carrot Weather<\/em> focused almost entirely on the current temperature; the second version began to dig in on forecast, radar, and notifications. But its next redesign was a big one: The 2017 model brought Carrot<\/em> to Apple Watch, which Mueller says was the \u201cturning point\u201d in transitioning the app into something more than a repository of jokes. <\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t really have long jokes on the Watch, so I had to focus on making a really good weather app,\u201d he says. \u201cI started over from scratch. I tried to use all of the hardware features built into the Watch as much as possible to abstract away a lot of what would normally be visual in the interface on the iPhone.”<\/p>\n

Mueller focused the experience on a few key data points and used color to communicate weather conditions so that people could quickly get a sense of their forecast. From there, he worked in reverse, bringing his favorite features back into the iPhone and iPad app. <\/p>\n

\"Vector<\/div>\n

Today, the Carrot<\/em> universe comprises seven iOS apps and an iOS sticker pack, as well as Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Mac versions of Carrot Weather<\/em>. The app now offers a fully customizable interface for those who want to craft their perfect weather app. You can record customizable weather reports replete with sassy teleprompter dialogue, or have Carrot taunt you in augmented reality. (She turns red if you annoy her. You\u2019ll probably annoy her.)<\/p>\n

There have been upgrades on the sarcastic side too: Mueller regularly updates the app\u2019s text to reflect current events, which means he can respond to current events \u2014 everything from political headlines to console releases \u2014 within minutes. \u201cPeople are tweeting me all the time how they get their news from a weather app,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n

And yes, if so moved, you can even mitigate the darker sides of Carrot<\/em>\u2019s personality. \u201cI wanted an option for people who were more interested in the cool professional features \u2014 or maybe for the people who don\u2019t want the \u2018Oh, Carrot<\/em> wants to kill you,\u2019 kind of thing\u201d he laughs. \u201cEven if you turn off the personality completely, you\u2019ll still get the fun animations and features.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Carrot<\/div>\n

For all his success, Mueller remains humble (even a little bemused) by all this attention. His design process, he jokes, isn\u2019t as formal as many of his Apple Design Award-winning peers \u2014 it\u2019s \u201cbasically throwing a bunch of stuff on a screen until I don\u2019t think it\u2019s hideous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, it\u2019s that singular focus and care (and dash of self-deprecation) that makes Carrot<\/em> stand out. Mueller\u2019s constant iteration and exploration \u2014 whether he\u2019s iterating on interface designs, supporting new API, or crafting a late-breaking joke \u2014 keep the app fresh and entertaining long after you\u2019ve checked the day\u2019s weather.<\/p>\n

\n

Learn more about Carrot Weather<\/a><\/p>\n

Download CARROT Weather from the App Store<\/a><\/p>\n

Bringing CARROT Weather to Apple Watch<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Generally speaking, weather apps don\u2019t threaten your life. They don\u2019t insult your life choices. They don\u2019t tell you that the sun makes your skin look, and we\u2019re quoting here, \u201clike curdled oatmeal.\u201d And they rarely, if ever, try to conquer the world. Carrot Weather does all three \u2014 pretty much on a daily basis. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apple-developer-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}