Designing for regeneration, restoring ecosystems, renewing communities, emphasizing sustainability and the potential to inspire positive growth.

During the Winter semester, undergraduate Interior Design and graduate Color & Materials Design students at the College for Creative Studies (CCS) collaborated on a large-scale sponsored project with the Detroit nonprofit, Changing Lives and Staying Sober (the C.L.A.S.S. Agency).

For 20 years, the C.L.A.S.S. Agency has supported outpatient treatment for adults, teens, and children living in the 48219 zip code and its neighboring communities providing vital prevention, intervention, and substance use disorder treatment. Their mission is to provide strategies and treatment services for families focusing on improving quality of life.

“Designing for C.L.A.S.S. brought me out of the city center to look at how other neighborhoods build up their local connections. Through research, we found out how under-resourced some of these places are. Designing for this project gave me a new understanding and opportunity to really do something for the city that we are living in.” – Yuya Cheng, MFA Color & Material Design

Dr. Karla Mitchell, executive director of C.L.A.S.S., explains that understanding the CDC’s Distressed Communities Index is crucial to grasping the necessity of C.L.A.S.S. in Detroit. The index provides a detailed view of economic well-being at the zip code level, highlighting widespread distress across the city. She also notes that their office location is among the areas most affected by suspected opioid overdoses, closely correlating with the index’s measures of social vulnerability.

For Dr. Mitchell, the nonprofit’s mission is deeply personal.

“Both of my parents had addictions. I recall there being no support for the children and families in a system of services with diminished access and quality. I have an understanding of how support for youth impacted by trauma, distress and social vulnerability should look.”

A newly acquired residential property will serve as the nonprofit’s safe haven for prevention, intervention, and substance use disorder treatment for adults and children. CCS students worked closely with C.L.A.S.S. to design their new headquarters.

The design brief required students to design for regeneration with a focus on actively restoring and renewing ecosystems, communities, or cultural aspects to enhance health and vitality. The aim was to improve overall well-being by emphasizing sustainable practices, mindful materials, and increased capacity for positive development.

Through in-depth interviews, field research, and creative collaboration, CCS students created final projects that put the needs of the nonprofit’s at-risk community first.

In The Third Space by Caden Musa (Interior Design), Dalaa Kain (Interior Design), Tanaya Kotasthane (MFA Color & Materials Design), and Tanushka Karwa (MFA Color & Materials Design) the group took a residential design approach to the project brief, creating a space that feels like home. While Bridge to Belonging by Laura Lin (MFA Color & Materials Design), Yasmin Childs (Interior Design), and Alejandra Castañeda Gomez (Interior Design; exchange student from Spain) focused on interconnectivity through themes of nature and play that encouraged a greater sense of belonging and ownership among visitors.

Each of the final six group projects presented left C.L.A.S.S. incredibly impressed.

“I am ecstatic about the possibilities uncovered by the youth. I am also proud to know that CCS is a gem in the city that anchors an incredible amount of creative genius,” said Dr. Mitchell. “What the students were able to envision and reimagine after connecting to our mission gives our staff and youth great hope for the kind of community this project will create. The passion and connection to the work that C.L.A.S.S. does was evident at every encounter, every design review and we loved it.”

Chair of Interior Design, Sandra Olave, was thrilled with the students’ final outcomes. “This sponsored project was notable for its strong focus on human-centric design. Working with C.L.A.S.S. and Dr. Mitchell greatly contributed to this emphasis, enabling our students to develop empathy for real-life scenarios encountered in day-to-day experience design.”

“This project is C.L.A.S.S Agency’s dream and reaching out to us was like them entrusting us with their ‘field relay batons’ of hope. We got to work on a project that has a more direct impact on students’ current landscape and got the chance to really interact with the environment as well as the community. I thought this project was a really valuable experience and unfolded many facets of what it means to design for humans.” – An Luu, Interior Design

Speaking to the caliber of work, one group of students was selected to present their final project at Milan Design Week, the preeminent global design fair. Yostina Kaoud (MFA Color & Materials Design), An Luu (Interior Design), Yuya Cheng (MFA Color & Materials Design), and Yasmeen Khalifa (Interior Design) had the opportunity to display and present their final project, Sight to Self, at the design fair in May with over 360,000 visitors in attendance.

Color & Materials Design chair, Melanie McClintock, felt student participation in Milan Design Week was a bonus. She emphasized the outstanding work completed by all of the students, which she credits not only to the students but also to Dr. Mitchell’s passion for C.L.A.S.S. “This was the first time our department has participated in a community-focused project working directly with a local non-profit. Collaborating with Dr. Mitchell and the C.L.A.S.S. team was such a positive and enriching experience – so grounded in a collective desire to do good,” said McClintock. “The outcomes of the projects were incredibly thoughtful, intentionally created with deep consideration for the client and the community. I was really impressed with the level of empathy, dedication, collaboration, and engagement from the students, which was a reflection of their passion for the project.”

As for the future of C.L.A.S.S., Dr. Mitchell hopes to break more boundaries and expand care.

“We look to expand our direct services to include Integrative Behavioral Health, Outpatient and Intensive Outpatient for youth and young adults – in a way that does not feel like institutionalized care to those we serve.”

The final projects will be presented this fall during Detroit’s Month of Design, where this year’s theme, Creative Currents, pays tribute to the city’s unique legacy of artistry and innovation while emphasizing the importance of collaboration and collective action.

This project was funded by the new Practicing Design Center at CCS — a dynamic hub where partner organizations receive top-tier design support, students gain immersive, hands-on skills, and the community benefits from enhanced collaboration.

Ilana Portney has been immersed in the world of set building since her childhood.

Fueled by her parents’ creativity during the 2008 recession, her journey began with crafting Popsicle stick structures and decorating dollhouses. Over the years, she evolved into a talented set designer, working on music videos, TV and film productions. Her impressive portfolio includes collaborations with artists including Ice Spice and Quavo, as well as with the likes of iconic companies like Nike, Vogue and Maybelline.

On a recent trip back to Detroit, Portney invited us to the Russell Industrial Center to discuss her latest project – designing a Complex magazine cover set for Detroit’s own Eminem.

The Interview

“When it comes to networking or getting a job, you do not have to do things in a practical way, because this world is not practical, and things don’t happen practically anywhere. All of my jobs came from Instagram, literally, and that’s how I grew my career. I didn’t start out as a production assistant. I started out as a production designer. I started out at the top of my career field.” –Ilana Portney

What led you to this career path? In my junior year of college, I met a director of photography who showed me the way of the Art department. We started making our own films and music videos. I took up a minor in Film my junior year and became obsessed with making videos and skits. The second I graduated I landed my first big project with the TODAY Show through NBC.

Once I did that, I wanted to do it forever.

I moved to New York and, after networking through Instagram, my first project was a Fetty Wap music video. From there, I met people my age and we all grew together and became really close friends. I met my now mentor, Robert Taylor, on a Charlie Puth music video, and I work with him all the time now. He’s like a brother to me.

What does a day in your life look like? It depends on the project.

I care about my work so much that it really feeds into my life. I wake up around 6 or 7 a.m. on a project week. I think about all of the things that I have to do, maybe make a deck to present. Start sourcing all the props I need, talk to the producers about the budget, and fight them on it. Have tea if I can. Go shopping for the things that we need, and source more things. Talk to the photographer, the director and the director of photography. Talk to my team, if we need to build. Talk to the fabricators, a.k.a. Robert. I go to bed about 2 or 3 a.m., wake up and do it again.

I do it because I love it. This is my life. I love art, I love the people that I meet, and I’m fascinated by how people think. It’s really hard for me to sleep because I love the things I do.

What do you love most about your career? I’m honored to be doing something that I love. I’m honored to be working with my friends, and I’m amazed that I get to work with them all the time and get paid to draw smiley faces on note cards and stick them in the background of a bedroom set. I get to do something fun every single day. It’s stressful to have to source three and a half yards of sand, but it’s like, that’s my job. Every day, it’s just an honor.

What would you say to current students or potential students who might be interested in this career? No one masters everything. And I’m still learning that, you know.

As an artist, you’re your own worst critic. You have to better yourself, whether that’s working out, drawing, painting, therapy or something. You’ll continue to fall, but you can learn a lot from other artists and your friends and lean on those people.

There are so many incredible people who I grew with at CCS who have taught me so many valuable things, not just talent-wise, but socially as well. They brought perspectives that I wouldn’t have, from how they were raised and their stories. That helped inform my work.

Learn More about CCS’s Programs. →

What, or who, inspires you? I love other people. Everyone around me is so talented. All of my friends, every single person at CCS. One of my closest friends, Dillan Murillo, is exceptionally talented. He was one of the hardest-working students at CCS, and I really admired his work ethic. Everyone at CCS was so talented in their own ways, you know, so other artists inspired me to have much more drive.

Over the course of the Winter semester, the College for Creative Studies hosted 13 sponsored projects and competitions across a variety of disciplines. Students from Communication Design and Fashion Design to Graduate Color and Materials Design and Product Design were able to partner with local and global brands to work on a specific project tailored to meet the needs of our industry partners.

Sponsored projects are highly conceptual and allow CCS students the opportunity to participate in creative, research-based assignments within real-world design parameters, interacting with designers and staff from the partnering company. The students worked on the following projects during the Winter semester.

  • C.L.A.S.S. x Interior Design & Color and Materials Design
  • Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear x Illustration
  • Ford Philanthropy x User Experience Design & Color and Materials Design
  • General Dynamics Land Systems x Transportation Design
  • General Motors x Transportation Design & User Experience Design
  • Hagopian Rug Competition x All Departments
  • John Deere x Transportation Design
  • Midea x Product Design & User Experience Design
  • Movement Music Festival (Paxahau) x Communication Design & Advertising Design
  • Nickelodeon x Entertainment Arts & Illustration
  • Stride x Entertainment Arts & User Experience Design
  • Tapestry x Fashion Design & Color and Materials Design
  • Visionalist Entertainment (Detroit: The City of Chefs) x Entertainment Arts

These educational partnerships were part of a CCS initiative focusing on experiential learning. Highlighting this approach, Matt Chung, Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships and Programs, states: “Each semester, our partners engage our students with creative challenges that extend their practice beyond the classroom. Through experiential learning, where ‘learning by doing’ is key, students bring classroom knowledge into real-world contexts. These partnerships not only sharpen our students’ skills but also fuel growth and innovation in our partner organizations.”