Concept art: the 1950s beach at night, string lights over the sand and an ON AIR snack kiosk

Beach & seasonal event · The Tybee Island Project · SCAD THED 730 · Winter 2026

Tybee Beach

Where time glitches

The beach at the end of a heightened 1950s Tybee Island, where time glitches often happen and characters from other eras wander onto the sand.

Course
THED 730 · Winter 2026 · Prof. Bill Gorgensen
Project
The Tybee Island Project, a team of six
My part
Breaking the shared concept into a guest journey and events; beach and seasonal event design
Site
Tybee Island beachfront, either side of the pier and pavilion
Status
Concept design, mid-term

Overview

A 1950s Tybee, end to end

The Tybee Island Project reimagines Tybrisa Street and the beachfront as a heightened 1950s Tybee. Guests enter through a gas-station gallery of beach history, walk a hallway where colour drains to black and white, and come out into a pedestrian street of themed shops, a boardwalk of kiosks and, at the end of it all, the beach.

The concept grew out of our team brainstorming. I broke it down into the guest journey and the beach’s festivals and events, and designed the beach and its seasonal event.

3
beach zones along the shore
4
event activities, two by day and two by night
2
open sunbathing areas around the event zone
6
designers on the team

Story & breakdown

From a shared idea to a programme

The idea of a heightened 1950s Tybee, where time slips, came out of our team brainstorming. My part was to break that shared idea down: first into a guest journey through the district, then, at the end of that journey, into the beach’s festivals and events.

  1. 01Arrive

    History gallery

    A gas-station front just off the beach. Inside, Tybee’s real past in photographs, clippings and antiques.

  2. 02Cross over

    Black-and-white hallway

    Colour drains away; 1950s songs and surf pull guests through time.

  3. 03Step in

    Tybrisa Street

    Colour bursts back. Every storefront hides a piece of local lore.

  4. 04Wander

    Strand Avenue & boardwalk

    Snacks, rides and kiosks: the town at play.

  5. 05Reach the edge

    The beach

    Where time glitches. The story changes by the hour and by the season.

How I broke it down

From story to season
The time-glitch premise became a series of seasonal events: each season a visitor from another era arrives. Summer 2026 is Vampire Sunbathing.
From season to hours
Each event is scheduled across the day: open beach and the vampire area by day, the lantern walkway and dance at dusk, films and a candlelit walk at night.
From hours to places
Every activity is given a zone on the sand (1-1, 1-2, 1-3 and the walkway), with guest services, restrooms and storage beside it.
Around it, the team
Teammates designed the district along the journey: Daisy Acosta the entrance and Tybrisa shops, Emily McConnell Strand Avenue, the boardwalk and the logo.

Team work · Identity

A roadside sign for a whole district

The project speaks one graphic language from the first slide to the storefronts: the pink atomic-age roadside sign of the Tybee Island Project logo, with its starbursts, bulb lights and arrow, a hand-lettered island map, and a "Greetings from" postcard that sells the district the way a 1950s beach town sold itself.

The Tybee Island Project logo: a 1950s roadside sign. Emily McConnell.
The Tybee Island Project logo: a 1950s roadside sign. Emily McConnell.
Illustrated map of Tybee Island and the route from Savannah. Daisy Acosta.
Illustrated map of Tybee Island and the route from Savannah. Daisy Acosta.
"Greetings from Tybee Island" postcard aerial of the district. Daisy Acosta.

Each storefront then gets its own sign, so the street reads like a row of real mid-century businesses: a neon cat for Cool Cat Drinks, a tackle-box badge for The Tackle Box, script lettering for Strand Avenue and Tybee Gifts.

Storefront typography: Cool Cat Drinks, The Tackle Box, Strand Avenue, Tybee Gifts.

Team work · Entrance · Daisy Acosta

Through a gas station into 1957

Guests walk up to what looks like a retro gas station just off the beach. Inside, walls of historic beach photographs, newspaper clippings and antiques lead into a long, winding hallway where colour fades to black and white and faint 1950s songs and beach sounds pull guests forward. At the end, colour bursts back and the hallway opens onto a reimagined Tybrisa Street.

The entrance: a gas station front that is not a gas station.
The entrance: a gas station front that is not a gas station.
The history gallery.
The history gallery.
The hallway opens onto Tybrisa Street.
The hallway opens onto Tybrisa Street.

Team work · Tybrisa Street & Boardwalk · Daisy Acosta

Shops with a secret

Every building on Daisy’s stretch has a backstory that guests can half-discover.

Seaside Carousel
A double-tier carousel at the centre of the boardwalk, with “cardboard cutout” stage-style ocean waves, classic divers and dolphin ride vehicles. About 20′ tall.
Snow Cone Kiosk
“Voted the coldest spot in Tybee five years in a row.” Shaved ice served by a giant snow-cone mascot. About 12′.
Cool Cat Drinks
A speakeasy dressed head to toe in pastel pink. Rumour says the owner adopted sixteen cats, each one trained in hospitality: cat door handles, a moving arm with a drink prop, and a cat or two behind the bar.
Fred’s Fish & Chips
Run by local legend Fred. Tybee still argues over how long he has lived, with answers from 100 to 1,000 years. A fish prop on the roof moves up and down.
Seaside Carousel.
Seaside Carousel.
Snow Cone Kiosk.
Snow Cone Kiosk.
Cool Cat Drinks, exterior elevation.
Cool Cat Drinks, exterior elevation.
Fred’s Fish & Chips, exterior elevation.
Fred’s Fish & Chips, exterior elevation.

Team work · The Tackle Box · Daisy Acosta

A fishing shop run by a dog

Fishing off the Tybee pier is a local favourite, so fisherman Lee opened a supply shop for it. Rumour says he trained his dog, Scout, to use a fishing rod, and hidden clues around the store point to the truth. Inside, a kids’ fishing game led by the voice of a prop dog combines magnetic fish, a digital screen and real water, so the dog now teaches children to fish.

Exterior elevation, with the sardine-can door header and glass blocks.
Exterior elevation, with the sardine-can door header and glass blocks.
Interior cutaway.
Interior cutaway.
Floor plan.
Floor plan.
Interior concept.
Interior concept.
“World’s Largest Tackle Box” merchandise display.
“World’s Largest Tackle Box” merchandise display.

Team work · Strand Avenue · Emily McConnell

Old Tybee’s pastel esplanade

Emily designed the pastel strip along Strand Avenue and the boardwalk: grab a cone of Tutti Frutti at The Scoop, dine at sunset on the rooftop of The Shell Shack, or book a first surfing lesson at High Tide Surf Supply. Each design comes with scale, materials and operational notes.

The Blue Lagoon
A sparkling walk-up cocktail bar with a retro awning, neon strips and shell sconces. Approx. 22–24′; cement, glass, neon, aluminium.
Strand Avenue shops
The Scoop ice-cream parlour with an oversized rotating cone, High Tide Surf Supply, Gallery 912 event venue and The Shell Shack oyster bar, entered through a giant shell under “pearl” lanterns.
South Beach Hotel & Suites
A fibreglass wave overhang over the porte-cochère, with balconies, planters and a fountain.
Tybee Gifts
A Streamline Moderne gift shop on the corner of Tybrisa Street and Strand Avenue, with a billboard of seasonal vintage posters.
Boardwalk Popcorn
A glittering carnival kiosk under an oversized popcorn roof and a neon marquee, with fully customisable flavours. Approx. 12–14′.
The Blue Lagoon.
The Blue Lagoon.

Strand Avenue storefronts: The Scoop, High Tide Surf Supply, Gallery 912, The Shell Shack.

South Beach Hotel & Suites.
South Beach Hotel & Suites.
Tybee Gifts.
Tybee Gifts.
Boardwalk Popcorn.
Boardwalk Popcorn.
Old Tybee Boardwalk plan. Stairs and platform: Daisy Acosta; splash pad: Lizzie Adams.
Old Tybee Boardwalk plan. Stairs and platform: Daisy Acosta; splash pad: Lizzie Adams.

这片海滩经常发生时间故障。

“This beach is a place where time glitches often occur. Strange events and unexpected characters appear from different eras.”

Beach design brief · Iris (Jingwen) Li

My part · Iris (Jingwen) Li

The beach and its seasonal event

Everything above is the project the team built together. From here on is my own part: breaking the shared concept into the guest journey and the beach’s festivals and events, then designing the beach, its zones and Vampire Sunbathing, the summer 2026 limited event.

Key visuals

The beach, by day and by night

Three moments on the same stretch of sand, drawn in the project’s pink-and-teal poster palette.

Night on the beach: string lights and a snack kiosk.
Night on the beach: string lights and a snack kiosk.
Zone 1-1: the plaza on the sand.
Zone 1-1: the plaza on the sand.
Zone 1-2: movie night.
Zone 1-2: movie night.

Role

What I designed

i

Story breakdown

Turning the team’s shared concept into a journey guests can walk.

  • Broke the 1950s time-slip concept into five stages, from history gallery to beach
  • Gave each stage its own job and pace in the guest journey
  • Second-pass edit of teammates’ backstories into one narrative tone
ii

Beach zoning

Deciding what each part of the sand is for.

  • Split the beach either side of the pier into zones 1-1, 1-2 and 1-3
  • Added the lantern walkway along 15½ Street as a time corridor
  • Placed guest services, restrooms and bag storage on both sides of the pier
iii

Seasonal event design

A limited-time event that gives guests a reason to come back.

  • Created Vampire Sunbathing, the summer 2026 limited event
  • Wrote the blood-drop necklace rule and the day-to-night programme
  • Drew the concept sketches and colour renderings for each zone

Inquiry

Questions the beach had to answer

01

Team

Six designers, one place

How do I join, and unify, work by teammates who are stronger in graphic design?

Six designers brought six visual styles and different levels of rendering. Daisy and Emily are strong in visual communication and graphic design, and their storefronts set a high bar. My question was how to join that work, and how to make the whole district look like one place. I worked from the shared 1950s poster-world theme and the project’s pink-and-teal palette, and redrew my beach renderings in that same palette and sketch-and-wash style, so the beach reads as the last stop on the same street.

02

Narrative

Scattered stories, one tone

How do six storytelling voices become one character?

Each teammate wrote their own backstory, and the voices varied: some playful, some eerie, some documentary. To give the project one complete character, I went back through the stories in a second pass and polished the narrative line around a shared premise, a 1950s Tybee where time slips and every building hides a small piece of lore that guests discover rather than are told.

03

Event

A party or a place to return to?

How is a beach event remembered, rather than over in one night?

On the beach itself, a single party is forgotten by the next summer. Tying each event to the time-glitch premise turned it into a seasonal series, with a new visitor each season and a reason to come back.

04

Story

Why vampires?

Why vampires, and how can a vampire possibly enjoy the sun?

Savannah’s identity is bound up with its cemeteries. Bonaventure and Colonial Park, the ghost tours and its reputation as one of America’s most haunted cities are part of why people visit. Tybee is Savannah’s beach, so a gothic visitor makes the event feel like it belongs to this place rather than to any beach.

Echoing the cultural sites nearby also builds atmosphere and memory: guests who have walked a Savannah cemetery or joined a ghost tour recognise the reference, and the beach becomes the sunny other half of a story they already know.

Written like a script

Hook

The event opens on a question: how do vampires live in the 1950s, and how can a vampire possibly enjoy the sun?

Twist

Count Dracula’s great invention, the blood-drop necklace. A paper wristband turns every guest into a vampire who can sunbathe safely.

Callback

The necklace comes back with a warning: lose it and you lose the free themed services, and unexpected things may happen. At night the story pays off, as ghosts and skeletons join the film screening and the candlelit walk calls back to Savannah’s ghost tours.

05

Time

Twenty-four hours, three stories

Day guests and night guests are different audiences. How is the story scheduled?

Day guests and night guests are different audiences, so the narrative is scheduled by the clock. The same stretch of sand changes what it is about as the light changes.

Day

Sun and vampires

Open sunbathing, volleyball and roaming pop carts across zones 1-1 to 1-3; the Vampire Sunbathing area, where the necklace keeps you safe in the light.

Dusk

The time corridor

The lantern walkway along 15½ Street becomes a stroll and photo route between eras; the 1950s beach dance party starts in zone 1-3.

Night

Ghosts on the shore

Gothic and nautical films beside skeletons, with ghosts among the audience; then a candlelit walk along the shore, borrowing Savannah’s ghost-tour tradition.

Still exploring

  • An interactive shipwreck archaeology game for zone 1-3.
  • More chairs and props, so the setting reads at the scale of a big beach rather than a stage set.
  • Low-tech interaction, such as speakers buried in the sand, that works in daylight and in the dark.

Beach design

From theme to sand

How the beach was designed, step by step: a theme, a set of zones, and an event that changes with the hour.

Theme

Step 01

A 1950s poster world

The design theme for the whole beach is a 1950s poster world, where the past comes to life out of vintage travel and leisure posters. Saturated colour, striped umbrellas, glass soda bottles and bulb string lights carry the look from the posters onto the sand.

Theme reference: 1950s leisure poster.
Theme reference: 1950s leisure poster.
Theme reference: 1950s travel poster.
Theme reference: 1950s travel poster.

Zoning

Step 02

Three zones and a walkway

The beach sits on either side of the Tybee Island pier and pavilion. I split it into three zones and a strolling route that ties them to the street.

Zone map over the beachfront, with the team’s district map inset.
Zone map over the beachfront, with the team’s district map inset.
1-1 · Free beach area
Sunbathing, light food and drinks, and beach volleyball.
Strolling route
A lantern walkway along 15½ Street: a time corridor, and a place to stroll and take photos.
1-2 · Open beach and film
Open sunbathing by day with roaming pop carts for snacks and drinks; pop-up outdoor movie screenings in the evening.
1-3 · Open beach and dance
Open sunbathing by day; a 1950s-style beach dance party in the evening. Still under consideration: an interactive shipwreck archaeology game.

Reference images for the evening atmosphere: a crowded summer beach, a party tent, a lantern canopy. Reference images, not my work.

Zone 1-1

Step 03

A plaza on the sand

Zone 1-1 is the everyday beach: a deck and plaza beside a beachfront building, strung with lights, with café tables for light food and drinks and open sand for sunbathing and volleyball.

Zone 1-1 concept rendering.
Zone 1-1 concept rendering.

Event

Step 04

Vampire Sunbathing

2026 Summer Limited Event. How do vampires live in the 1950s?

The event grows out of the beach’s premise: this is a place where time glitches, and strange characters from other eras show up. For one summer, the visitors are vampires, and the guests get to be vampires too.

Daytime

01

Free general sunbathing area

A regular beach area open to every guest for sunbathing and relaxing.

02

Vampire-themed sunbathing area

You are a vampire. Thanks to Count Dracula’s great invention, a blood-drop necklace (a paper wristband), you can safely enjoy the sun. The area offers unlimited vampire-themed drinks, vampire snacks, vampire-style surfboards, umbrellas, tables and chairs, and fang make-up and accessories. Keep your necklace safe: without it you lose the free themed services, and unexpected things may happen.

Night-time

03

Gothic and nautical film screening

Guests watch films on the beach beside skeletons while mysterious ghosts interact with them. Speakers buried in the sand whisper lines and reactions, like vintage canned laughter.

04

Night beach walk

As night falls, guests join a candlelit walk along the shore. Candles are electronic or set inside jars; fire-safety requirements are to be confirmed with the fire department.

The blood-drop necklace

A Little Drop of Sunshine: the Vampire Beach Pass. The “blood-drop necklace” from the story becomes a pink paper wristband with a winged blood drop, the token that turns a guest into a vampire who can sunbathe safely. Guests pick it up at Guest Services, wear it, and use it for themed drinks, snacks and beach amenities.

Wristband design: the pass, its story and how guests use it.
Wristband design: the pass, its story and how guests use it.
  1. 01

    Pick up

    Collect the pass at Guest Services.

  2. 02

    Wear

    Put on your drop of sunshine.

  3. 03

    Enjoy

    Themed drinks, snacks and beach amenities.

Layout

Step 05

Where the event sits

The vampire sunbathing area doubles as the night-time screening ground, set between two open sunbathing areas so the event never takes over the whole beach. Each side of the pier gets its own guest services counter, storage, restrooms and bag storage, all reached from the beach walk.

Event layout: open sunbathing areas, the vampire-themed sunbathing and film screening area, guest services, restrooms and bag storage along the beach walk, with the pier restaurant at the centre.
Event layout: open sunbathing areas, the vampire-themed sunbathing and film screening area, guest services, restrooms and bag storage along the beach walk, with the pier restaurant at the centre.

Zone 1-2

Step 06

Movie night on the beach

The evening setup for zone 1-2 brings the poster world to the sand: an outdoor movie screen under bulb string lights, a vintage bus and a pop-up truck shop, striped umbrellas and towels, mid-century beach chairs, a portable radio and picnic coolers of glass soda bottles.

Props list

  • Bulb string lights
  • Outdoor movie screen
  • Striped umbrellas
  • Vintage bus
  • Pop-up truck shop
  • Portable radio
  • Mid-century beach chairs
  • Picnic cooler with glass soda bottles
  • Striped towels
Zone 1-2 colour rendering (Photoshop collage + AI).
Zone 1-2 colour rendering (Photoshop collage + AI).

Credits

Course
THED 730, Savannah College of Art and Design, Winter 2026
Instructor
Bill Gorgensen
Team
Aleena Pagan, Daisy Acosta, Emily McConnell, Iris (Jingwen) Li, Lizzie Adams, Mark Stephens
My part
Beach zoning, seasonal event design, concept sketches. Also on the project: the Captain’s Hot Dog Stand kiosk, the jazz bar that became Double Exposure, and the parking garage.