(CASE STUDY)
Picoballoon
Client
Picoballoon
Year
2025 to 2026
Sector
Deep tech
Services
Brand systemization / Design system / Platform UI/UX
Picoballoon is a piece of hidden infrastructure that measures the meteorological data needed for weather prediction. Worldwide, over 700,000 similar sondes are launched every year to make weather-dependent logistics and operations safe and precise.
This results in massive amounts of variable data that has to be understood and visualized correctly. We created a platform that tracks sonde flights and gives the customer an intuitive way to understand the data it captures.
Our challenge was to design an entire process, from the brand universe through a platform that displays complex data in an easy-to-understand way. We transformed the complex, traditional way of launching sondes and reading weather data into simple, usable user flows.
Client
Picoballoon is a Slovak deep-tech startup building miniature weather probes. Sensor-carrying balloons measure the weather in the upper layers of the atmosphere. A conventional probe weighs 100 grams and needs a parachute and a latex balloon three meters in diameter.
Picoballoon's radiosonde weighs 10 grams, flies without a parachute and cuts lifting gas by 96%, lowering the total cost of ownership by over 40%. Instead of one ascent and a lost probe, it stays airborne for up to two months and delivers more than 20 times the measurements. The probes are bought by major meteorological stations and national governments.
Challenge
Our challenge was to design a platform that serves two very different audiences: 20-year-old startup founders and conservative governmental weather offices around the world. Picoballoon was working with a version built by developers without a designer, an MVP.
Launching and tracking radiosondes means displaying a huge variability of data: one mission needs over 48 types of data shown over time on a single screen. That creates complexity beyond traditional product design, while the product still has to stay intuitive.
The brand became part of the brief too. It was created in the company's early days and the company had outgrown it, with the logo, colors and typography living in multiple versions.
Brand system and guidelines
Logo system, color palette, typography, photography style.
Software Hub platform
Custom product design: overview dashboards, mission and probe detail pages, launch and export screens, account and company preferences.
Custom components
Map overlays, graphs, launch-prediction visualizations, loading animations.
UX support beyond the platform
User journey mapping for launching a radiosonde, plus a custom found-probe landing page.
The project ran from July 2025 to June 2026: brand system first, platform redesign from September, paced to the capacity of the client's development team.
A PLATFORM THAT OFFLOADS THE USER
The probes collect the data, but the customer experiences it through the platform. Selecting, tracking and exporting weather data in Picoballoon's software hub now combines four separate data-tracking platforms into one easy-to-view interface.
A DESIGN SYSTEM ON THE CLIENT'S STACK
We built the library on ShadCN, on the components Picoballoon's developers already use. Every designed element has a direct counterpart in code, so implementation was fast and precise.
CUSTOM ON TOP OF LIBRARIES
For working with probe data we designed custom components: charts, maps and map clusters. Exactly the parts of the product clients use most.
THE BRAND AS A SYSTEM
We systemized the brand into rules that work on every device and in every format. The Picoballoon team now produces consistent materials on its own.
The platform hub.picoballoon.io is in full operation, with more than 100 missions flown worldwide since launch. A new client, a new probe or a new market now runs in the same design, straight from the rules and the library. The software and the brand communicate the same quality as the technology.
The missions are public, so you can judge the work in the wild: open a live mission, a comparison flight with the Slovak national weather institute SHMÚ, and you are looking at the same screens their clients use: altitude, temperature, wind and battery arriving from a probe in the sky.
Your customers experience your product through software and brand. Let's design what that looks like for you.
“The Software Hub is a crucial part of our system. We sought someone agile, innovative, and professional to ensure the system appeared cohesive and credible. Anna and her team proved to be the perfect fit, effortlessly understanding the brand and its diverse audience from the start. They seamlessly integrated all the moving parts into a stunning and functional product. Focus Hub Studio delivered a recognizable and effective brand ecosystem that consistently drives business at every conference we attend.”
Adam Bednář / co-founder, Picoballoon
Credits
Anna Lukáčová (FH Studio) in collaboration with the Picoballoon team.