In Technics and Civilization (1934), technology historian Lewis Mumford argues that the clock, rather than the steam engine, is the piece of technology that enabled the industrial age. The steam engine was merely the latest new power tool in a long lineage of power tools; the clock, on the other hand, created a new mental model for time that allowed for wider synchronization of human behavior. The clock started to center daily human life around the rules of strict machines, rather than the flexibility and variation of the natural world.
For your first assignment, make a clock. “Clock” is broadly defined — anything that measures time. Use coding assistants to build it and deploy it as a live website. Document your process and include it on the website.
This assignment also serves as a baseline assessment of your starting point with software design.
[~1-2 days] Sketch 100 ideas for clocks on paper. Thumbnail size is fine. Brainstorming with other people or AI is fine. Label each idea for clarity.
[~1-2 days] In Figma, mock up at least one idea that you want to build. This should reflect how you want the clock to look and behave. Your chosen idea has to be interesting to you, but it does not need to be complicated — the best designs are usually simple. Simple is hard.
[~1-2 days] Build your design using HTML/CSS/Javascript, aided by Claude.