Build a page powered by someone else's data
Use a public API to make a small, well-designed page that displays live data — and understand the request/response loop underneath it.
Ideas
- Weather for your city, designed beautifully (the classic)
- "What's playing" — movies from TMDB
- Local transit departures
- ISS location, air quality, currency rates, a random-poetry API
Steps
- Choose an API with a free tier and readable docs. Skim the docs yourself first — what can you ask it for?
- Make one request by hand (browser or an API tool) before any code. Look at the raw JSON. Find the 3 fields you actually want.
- Design the display. Sketch what the data should look like — hierarchy, units, empty states. Don't let the JSON structure dictate the design.
- Build it with AI. Give it the API, your key, and your design intent.
- Handle failure. Turn off wifi / use a bad key. What does your page show? Ask the AI to design for the error case — then redesign it yourself, better.
Things to keep in mind
- Your API key is a password. If it's visible in your page source, it will get stolen. Ask the AI how it's handled.
- Rate limits are why your page breaks during the demo. Cache or refresh gently.
Submission
- Live URL + one paragraph explaining how a simple API works, written for a non-technical client. (This doubles as the official "API Concept Explanation" assignment.)