THE THING WE BUILT:

Chill Factor

Every year we try to make a small holiday Thing for clients. Something fun, unexpected, and a little weird.

Our clients and partners are spread all over the country, but we still wanted to make something that felt a little cozy and familiar. Something that meets people where they actually are.

Weather is an easy, rote, universal small talk starter, so we figured we might make it a bit more interesting.

So we built a thing. (And sent out some postcards with a lil QR code too)

Our little postcard

How It Works

1. Enter your name and ZIP code.

2. The app pulls data from OpenWeatherMap.

3. The UI shows unique, quirky modules based on temperature, wind, sunlight, and a few formulas we absolutely should not be trusted with.

4. Get a fully Townshipified weather update for your neighborhood. (With some special logic if you enter a New England ZIP code.)

Notes from Building

Translating data into personality takes more work than the data itself. Most of the building here was figuring out how to turn cold (get it?) numbers into quirky modules with character. The OpenWeatherMap API gives you objective facts (e.g.,wind speed, cloud cover, feels-like temperature). Our job was converting those into modules that feel handwritten, even though they're programmatic.

💈 Temperature became "Tongue-to-Pole Timer" and "Frozen Car Door Alert."

🏠 Daylight Hours becomes "Cabin Fever Level"

🌤️ Cloudiness, Sunrise/Sunset Time and Days until Spring becomes "Vitamin D Crisis Level."

Regional touches helped too. New Englanders should immediately recognize "Dunks Approved" for the iced coffee test. These small details make the difference between "an app that shows weather" and "a thing Township would actually send you."

Holiday (and other one-off projects) ship better with constraints.

We’ve done this for a few years now… Township Wrapped, Holiday Card Wizard, Resolution Generator.

All had similar constraints: tight timeline (a few weeks max), narrow scope (one fun holiday idea executed well), with a clear purpose (something we’d actually send to folks we care about).

That approach has ended up shaping how we ship many of the small ideas we build every week. So we wanted to keep that tradition alive.

Not to get all sappy, but…

In the spirit of the season, we want to bring cheer and delight to folks we love.

And if you’ve read this far (or read any of our previous newsletters of the goofy things we’ve shipped this year), thank you.

From Matt, Caleb, and the entire Township team that is behind these wild MVPs, Prototypes, Proof of Concepts, and digital 1’s and 0’s, thank you.

Thanks for being a part of our town.

Built with ❤️ by Township

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