Lightning Cloud

source code - video - instructable - award - bluetooth

Runner-up in the Instructables Halloween Decor Contest 2015

This is the first step towards creating a little ambient weather indicator. This is the “ambient” part: it’s a little cloud that lights up as though it is filled with lightning. After reading Stephen Anderson’s “Seductive Interaction Design“, I was inspired to create a “glanceable” weather indicator. Richard Clarkson’s work on “The Cloud” is beautiful, but not as functional as what I was interested in creating. This project introduced me to the challenges of distilling information down into a “glanceable” format. How do I create a system where users can select the ranges they are interested in, and make a cloud that displays the information they are interested in?

I also wrote an Instructable for how to control the lightning cloud (or any Arduino project!) via Bluetooth.

© 2023 / Molly Jane Nicholas / email