Gangtok

Why this icon Prayer flags strung across the ridges of Sikkim. Source: en.wikipedia.org

Zostel

The story

Before dawn at a viewpoint above Gangtok: prayer flags snap in the wind between two tall poles, Kanchenjunga's snow takes the first pink light behind them, and a traveller, staff in hand, points up at it under the last of the moon, while the town's street lamps still burn along the ridge among the forested hills and a few early windows glow.

Why this picture

Gangtok sits on a forested hillside at about 1,650 m with Kanchenjunga, the world's third-highest mountain, on its western skyline, clearest from October to December. Travellers climb to viewpoints such as Tashi View Point before five to watch the snow turn pink and gold, under long strings of prayer flags in their five colours: blue, white, red, green and yellow.

The motion

The flags flutter, the wind running along the string; the stars twinkle, a star falls and the moon's rings turn; the firs sway. A 16-second loop.

Colour

Orchid #AA5EA5

Valley Blue #4F87C7

Blush #F6ADCD

Gangtok takes Orchid #AA5EA5, one of the three Valleys colours — with its icon in white on it.

Another moment in Gangtok

A second scene: another true moment at Gangtok, drawn in the graphic vocabulary with the animals and city symbols that belong there. Wide for screens, tall for a phone held upright.

The story

A bright May morning on MG Marg, Gangtok: a traveller sits on a bench under one of the promenade's Victorian lamp posts with a plate of momos, a street dog stands beside him, noble orchids flower in the planters, the shopfronts line the car-free street, the town climbs the forested ridge behind and a ropeway cabin runs along its cable across the sky.

Why this moment

MG Marg is Gangtok's car-free promenade, India's first litter- and spit-free street, with Victorian-style lamp posts and benches down its middle where the town walks (Zostel's Gangtok guide: the heartbeat of Sikkim, its cafes serving momos of every kind). In May the whole city blooms, orchids above all; the noble dendrobium is Sikkim's state flower. The town climbs a forested ridge, and its 1 km ropeway runs over the rooftops between Deorali, Namnang and Tashiling. Street dogs live on MG Marg.

The motion

The ropeway cabin runs along its cable across the sky; the sun's rays turn; the orchids nod in their planters; the trees on the ridge sway; the dog shifts on its feet. A 16-second loop.

In the picture

Its files

wide: wide second scene, SVG wide second scene, Animated SVG wide second scene, PNG
tall: tall second scene, SVG tall second scene, Animated SVG tall second scene, PNG

Also in the kit's zip, in its own folder.

Gangtok in symbols

Beside its icon, the things that are Gangtok, drawn in the Brand Manual's city language: a monument in the city grey with its openings cut, the things of the place in flat landscape colours. Each comes in colour and in the city grey. Every place's symbols

MG Marg's lamp post and benchMonument
MG Marg, Gangtok's car-free promenade and India's first litter- and spit-free street: its Victorian-style lamp posts and benches down the middle, where the town walks in the evening.
SVG Grey SVG PNG
The noble dendrobium orchidOf the place
The noble dendrobium, Sikkim's state flower: an orchid of tall jointed canes with its white-and-magenta flowers along them; Gangtok's Flower Exhibition Centre shows its orchids from March to June.
SVG Grey SVG PNG
A choktse tableOf the place
The choktse: Sikkim's hand-carved folding table, its front panels carved in relief and painted bright, made at Gangtok's Directorate of Handicrafts and Handloom.
SVG Grey SVG PNG

Also drawn for Gangtok 3

Detailed icons from the library that name Gangtok among their places: one drawing, on the page of every place it belongs to. Those drawn for Gangtok alone come first. Every detailed icon

Say hello to Gangtok's Zobus

Zobu in Gangtok's own dress, on the palette. Hover or tap one and it waves. Each comes still and alive — idle, hello and hop — for stickers, stories and the app.

Every destination's Zobus →

Female
Still Idle Hello Hop Face Wave
Male
Still Idle Hello Hop Face Wave

Their faces, poses and moves 13

Gangtok's Zobus from the rig: a face for a profile picture, a pose for a story, a move as a still; each opens its file. Every Zobu in motion

Faces 10

Show all 10

Poses 3

The kit

Everything Gangtok needs: its profile, its cover, wide and tall, its icon, tile, display picture and lockup, its loop and the symbol becoming it, its second scene, its city map, its city symbols and its Zobus — every file ready to download.

50 files in one zip, the cover, its second scene, its symbols, its Zobus and its city map included

Profile

Gangtok’s page as a story, 1080 × 1920: its cover, its tile, its name, its line and its verbs — for stories, status and a phone’s lock screen.

SVGOther formats

Cover, wide

1600 × 900, for screens: a page’s top, a slide, a share card. The still is the loop’s first frame. The animated SVG loops in 16 s; where it shouldn’t move, use the still.

SVG Animated SVG PNG

Cover, tall

900 × 1600, composed for a phone held upright: stories, reels, a lock screen. The animated SVG loops in 16 s; where it shouldn’t move, use the still.

SVG Animated SVG PNG

Tile

The icon in one colour on Gangtok’s own — for a grid, a story, a sticker.

SVG PNG

Icon

An object: flat landscape colours. Transparent; the mono takes any one colour.

SVG PNG Mono SVG

Loop

Points twinkle behind the peak, or clouds drift past. 7.2 s, seamless.

Animated SVG Lottie JSON

Motion

The symbol becomes Gangtok and turns back — a Lottie loop for stories, the app and the web.

Lottie JSON

Display picture

Circle-safe: the colour, the icon and the name — for chats, socials and the app.

SVG PNG

Lockup

The horizontal lockup, with Gangtok under the wordmark — for signage, email and merch.

SVG

City symbols

Gangtok’s symbols, each in colour and in the city grey, as SVG and PNG — in the zip’s symbols folder.

See them with their files

Zobus

Gangtok’s Zobu pair, still and alive (idle, hello, hop), waving still and as a face (a profile picture) — in the zip’s zobus folder.

Female SVG Male SVG

Also made for Gangtok 5

The rest of what the library holds for Gangtok: the pattern of its region, the card its links share, each opening its own file or gallery.

The map we made for Gangtok

Seven things to do around Zostel Gangtok, each in its true direction with its distance and time from the door — a map made for your phone.

Watch Kanchenjunga blush at dawnTashi View Point · 7.8 km · 19 min drive
Spot red pandas in the forestHimalayan Zoo · 13.8 km · 35 min drive
Walk to the ridge-top monasteryEnchey Monastery · 2.7 km · 35 min walk
See orchids bloom in MayFlower Show · 1.9 km · 25 min walk
Eat momos on car-free MG MargMG Marg · 1.8 km · 25 min walk
Walk down to the chortenDo-drul Chorten · 4.3 km · 55 min walk
Catch the falls before the crowdsBan Jhakri Falls · 5.9 km · 14 min drive

Download the phone map (PNG)Download the phone map (SVG)

1080 × 1350, for a phone or a story. Distances and times from Zostel Gangtok, measured on OpenStreetMap routing. Map for representation purposes only.

On the map

Gangtok is in Sikkim, India — one of the 84 places where Zostel is live.

Region: Sikkim
Country: India
Where: 27.33° N, 88.61° E
Landscape: Valleys

Make its poster Every place

Gangtok · Sikkim · India

Prayer flags over the peaks. MG Marg by night.

The story

Why this picture

The motion

Colour

Another moment in Gangtok

The story

Why this moment

The motion

In the picture

Its files

Gangtok in symbols

Also drawn for Gangtok 3

Say hello to Gangtok's Zobus

Their faces, poses and moves 13

Faces 10

Poses 3

The kit

Also made for Gangtok 5

The map we made for Gangtok

On the map