Core 1: Interaction Lab is designed to introduce students to programming as a creative medium—as a way of making and exploring.

  • Parsons School of Design
  • Fall 2026
  • 63 Fifth Ave, Rm 508
  • Divya Mehra

Week 1 09/01

Assignment due 09/08

  • Complete Start of Term Survey
  • Field Trip Journal
    •

    Walk around somewhere and observe the environment around you. Bring along a journal or notetaking app. We will use this material to make a webpage.

    Read Tim Berners-Lee Invented the World Wide Web. Now He Wants to Save It Write down:
    1. One thing you agree with, and why
    2. One thing you disagree with, and why
    3. One thing that surprised you, and why
  • Submit:
    1. Compilation of walk notes in a doc or photos of your journal,
    2. the three things asked for from the reading.
  • Submit

Week 2 09/08

Assignment due 09/15

  • Field Trip Webpage
    •

    Turn your walk from the previous assignment into a webpage by writing HTML. You should use a variety of tags to express your ideas.

  • Submit

Week 3 09/15

  • Inspo Corner
  • Git Check & Review (Add your GitHub user name and repository to this sheet).
  • Project Pair Share
  • Figma Introduction
  • In Class Exercise: Figma Recreation (Choose the MoMA or Printed Matter)
  • Question Bank
  • Slides & Discussion: Web Typography & CSS Intro
  • In Class Exercise: Type Specimen

Assignment due 09/22

  • Project 2 (Pt 1): Create A Recipe
    • A recipe is a set of instructions to achieve a standardized result. A recipe is most typically thought of in a cooking context, but an algorithm is also a recipe. Create your own “recipe” in HTML.
  • Figma Continued
    •  Looking at your in-class exercise, pick 5 repeated elements. Take screenshots and add them to a page called Style Elements.
  • Commit and push your Project 2 work.

Week 4 09/22

  • Git Check & Review (Add your GitHub user name and repository to this sheet).
  • Git vs. GitHub vs. GitHub Desktop + Questions
  • Spot the Bug
  • Psuedo Classes & rem/em (with CodePen)
  • (Time permitting) In Class Exercise: Type Specimen
  • Styles in Figma
  • Go Rounds for Figma Project (Magazine, Museum, School).
  • Assignment Share

Assignment due 09/29

  • Project 2 (Pt 2): Create A Recipe
    •  Complete your two assigned recipes and send the result to the receipemaker by Friday. For your own project: incorporate the two instances of your recipe being used on your project website. Make sure to: (1) use img, a, section, and p at least once, (2) show clear hierarchy, and (3) add at least one custom font. You are not required to add CSS aside from the font-family, but you may do so if you wish.
  • Commit and push your Project 2 to your repository.

Week 5 09/29

  • Go over GitHub & Introduce GitHub Pages
  • width & height, classes & ids, spans
  • The Box Model & Additional CSS Questions
  • Project 2 Share
  • Landing Page Sketches in Figma + 1-on-1 Code Walk Throughs

Assignment due 10/06

  • Figma Sketches for Landing Page
    •  Complete three compositional sketches for your Core 1 Landing page. Think about: hierarchy, scale, layout, typography, color. Each sketch should explore a distinctly different composition using the same content. These do not need to be fully resolved designs or limited by what you currently know how to code.
  • Read My Website Is A Shifting House by Laurel Schwulst. Come prepared to discuss.
  • Submit PDF of sketches

Week 6 10/06

  • Review the Box Model
  • Position
  • (Brief)Introduction to Display: Flex
  • Landing Page Share
  • Discuss Reading (move to next week)
  • One on Ones

Assignment due 10/13

  • Option 1: Museum Painting
    •

    Find a museum that would allow you to open your laptop while observing an artwork. (Note - if this is truly not possible, go to a museum and take a photo of an artwork for later). Re-draw this painting on a webpage using CSS.

  • Option 2: Visual Webpage
    •

    Create a webpage that exists only for visual contemplation. It cannot have any usable functions nor serve a utilitarian purpose

  • For midterm: Begin coding landing page in root index.html and root style.css

Week 7 10/13

  • Project 4 & Landing Page Share
  • Display, Including Flex
  • Play Flexbox Froggy, Levels 1-12
  • Time Permitting: CSS Transitions & Animations
  • One on Ones

Assignment due 10/20

  • Complete midterm (landing & 3 linked projects)
    •

    Check that: your main link works and so do your linked projects. Double-check all your code for any errors. You will recieve a grade the following week.

  • Complete CSS CodePen Worksheet
    •

    Please make sure to "fork" a copy of the CodePen before editing it yourself. Submit your link in the assignment submission.

  • Submit CodePen

Week 8 10/20

Assignment due 10/27

  • Project 4: Website Grid Recreation
    •

    Find a website’s grid that you like and re-create it 1:1 using CSS grid and flexbox. You do not need to re-create the content, but you do need to re-create the website’s skeleton.

    You are not allowed to use manual positioning. The following CSS properties are not allowed: position, top, bottom, left, right.

    This is the opposite of the exercise with CSS painting.