The following project was completed as a SCAD SERVE course (a collaborative class where SCAD students from an array of majors participate in a community service project as part of a credited course). This particular SCAD SERVE project focused on the Beach Institute with the intention of enhancing the museum’s storytelling both online and onsite.

My classmates and I had the honor of collaborating with the Beach Institute’s staff and Board members, and our priority swiftly became to highlight preservation and public education. This resulted in the design and implementation of outdoor and indoor signage. These signs enhance visitor wayfinding and assist in telling the hidden history of the Beach Institute from its founding to its preservation. The signs were created with a visual emphasis on historical continuity, having drawn inspiration from archival signs as well as the Georgia Historical Society’s historical marker dedicated to the Beach Institute. The sign designs were additionally created with a consideration for preserving the exterior and interior of the building, for which our team determined techniques to mount the signs without damaging the walls. Therefore our sign designs are historically accurate in appearance, and historically appropriate in materials and mounting hardware.

Our decision to implement these signs was made according to our user-based research. We realized that visitors often had difficulty finding their way to the building’s entrance through the gift shop, via the garden. Additionally, we determined that the incredible history of the Beach Institute was not easily accessible to the public, either online or onsite. The Beach Institute marks a historic chapter in the state of Georgia, as it represents a demographic of people who were vital to the founding and development of Savannah. Not only that, but the Beach Institute also represents a moment of redefinition for African Americans as a free people. It is a result of the unimaginable grit of its founders who provided a school to their community, and who had previously been deprived of legal education for hundreds of years. Our SCAD SERVE class was inspired by this story, and it became our main goal to tell it creatively and effectively through these signs. The SCAD students involved in the design of these signs include Mars Arico, Kylie Bromwell, Haven Burke, Pullen Tafadzwa Chenjerayi, Alexandra Clough, Elieth Cortez, Donovan Daniel, Alex Guerra, Derick Ma, Eliza Nelson, Paiten Prescott, Lucas Qin, Olivia Russin, Emma Sellner, Ariana Wilkes, Jared Yost, and Yuting Zhou, as well as Alumni Advisor Jennifer Graham.