The Weather Channel dials - Trollbäck + Company


Trollbäck + Company
 turn up the temperature

The Weather Channel's graphic revamp is the first in over thirty years


The Weather Channel may have one of the most uninspiring logos in broadcasting, but that hasn’t put off the channel’s designers. New York graphics firm Trollbäck + Company have done a major overhaul on the network, getting their hands on everything - bar the actual logo itself. Now, the white lettering out of a blue box is feeling the halo effect of all the visual elements around it being livelier, more dynamic and better considered.

The designers, who are located in the heart of Manhattan’s theatre land on Broadway, say they were tasked with relaunching the US brand “as the world’s most immersive and knowledgeable source of information and inspiration for the weather enthusiast”.

This was the first time the company had been through a graphic revamp in 31 years, and it showed. The maps those beleaguered TV weather presenters had to stand in front were grey, clunky and depressing, whatever the weather was up to.

 

The Weather Channel dials - Trollbäck + Company?
The Weather Channel dials - Trollbäck + Company?

Now, the maps and charts have been redrawn with a lighter touch and a more contemporary colour palette. Meanwhile, a massive data visualisation project was undertaken, to make all that information easy to digest in the blink of an eye. To this end, Trollbäck + Company introduced a new system of updated weather icons, which must have been the most entertaining part of the brief for the designers.

And this being a root-and-branch redesign, the tone of voice for the delivery of all things weather-related was also modernised and made more accessible, and a new ‘sonic logo’ was put together by audio branding firm Man-Made Music. (Now, the team at Trollbäck must be desperate to get their hands on that 80s-style logo.)

 

The Weather Channel Boulder - Trollbäck + Company?
The Weather Channel Boulder - Trollbäck + Company?

If you're keen to find out more about graphic design then watch our editorial director Emilia Terragni introduce the Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design hereBuy the Archive from the people who made it, here.