AI-assisted app builders enable rapid development, but without a UX structure, they can lead to inefficient iteration, unclear requirements, and wasted resources.

The challenge was to design and build a functional, accessible weather app using Lovable while maintaining UX rigour, minimising credit usage, and ensuring the product was measurable, usable, and scalable.

• Started in Planning Mode to reduce credit usage and prevent premature execution.
• Used Lovable’s scoping questions (audience, location, purpose, visual direction) as a lightweight discovery phase.
• Reviewed and refined the autogenerated plan before approving it, treating it as a design specification rather than a final solution.
• Evaluated data-layer options and selected the appropriate database approach.
• Validated external API requirements by confirming the Met Office API did not require a client ID, unblocking integration early.

• Updated the background imagery post-render to better align with the product tone.
• Added a hero icon to the title screen to strengthen visual hierarchy and branding.
• Introduced a persistent header and footer to improve navigation and structure.

• Added a 7-day weather forecast to increase the depth of information.
• Implemented a location search feature to support multiple cities and user control.
• Inspected the backend structure to better understand how Lovable assembled the app, enabling more intentional edits.

• Applied ARIA roles and descriptive labels to ensure screen-reader compatibility.
• Added structured data markup to improve search engine understanding.
• Validated schema using Google’s Rich Results Test.

• Delivered a fully functional, accessible weather app with:
  • Dynamic location search
  • Extended forecasting
  • Analytics instrumentation
  • SEO and accessibility best practices
• Achieved rapid iteration without unnecessary credit usage by separating planning, rendering, and post-render edits.
• Maintained UX control in an AI-driven environment by validating assumptions before execution.