CCS Students Celebrate Poetry with Unique Book Designs for InsideOut Literary Arts Sponsored by Mercedes-Benz Financial Services

During the fall semester, CCS Communication Design students collaborated with InsideOut Literary Arts on a project sponsored by Mercedes-Benz Financial Services (MBFS). Paramount to the nonprofit’s goal is the conviction to lift every unique and collective voice through transformative creative writing programs. 

Founded in 1995, InsideOut is Detroit’s largest and oldest literary nonprofit organization. Reaching more than 100 classrooms and community sites, the nonprofit brings together professional writers to inspire Detroit elementary, middle school and high school students to find their unique voice through the written and spoken word. 

Communication Design students developed design strategies for a student poetry publication centered around the theme of nature and in celebration of InsideOut’s community impact. The final results were a culmination of research on ecology, poetry and climate justice. Students also created taxonomy systems based on their theme and detailed data visualization charts to lay out each section of their book. The themes ranged from a modern almanac of poetry inspired by the four seasons to an immersive emotional journey featuring nature-inspired poetry.

One group of students was selected to have their book professionally printed and published. The winning group composed of Sophie Boysen, Libby Grace and Sam Mantua chose to focus on the intersection of human interaction with nature. Their concept statement described their theme as: 

“Diverse in their size, settings and hues, ecosystems serve as the framework for our publication. Within these poetic narratives, you’ll traverse from home to the grand expanses of the Earth, experiencing the full spectrum of human interaction with nature.”

Susan LaPorte, Chair and Professor of Communication Design + Advertising Departments believes sponsored projects are critical to developing a well-rounded student educational experience at CCS. “Making connections between our community partners is an important aspect of design education. For our student teams, it is the chance to work on an applied design brief, with clients in our classrooms. Through this journey with our partners, InsideOut and MBFS, we learned how to work collaboratively, shared our design creative process, presented our steps and stages, responded to critical dialogue, and produced four distinctive and exemplary poetry books.”

To learn more about the CCS Communication Design department please visit https://www.ccsdetroit.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs/communication-design/.

To learn more about InsideOut Literary Arts please visit https://insideoutdetroit.org/.

To learn more about Mercedes-Benz Financial Services please visit https://corp.mbfs.com/social-impact/.