Jaisalmer

Why this icon The Golden Fort, one of the few living forts in the world (UNESCO). Source: whc.unesco.org

Zostel

The story

The Golden Fort crowns its hill in the late sun, and a camel caravan paces the dunes below it, a traveller riding the lead camel.

Why this picture

Jaisalmer Fort (Sonar Qila, 1156) crowns Trikuta hill in a ring of 99 round bastions, with the palace and Jain temples inside; some 4,000 people still live in it, one of the world's few living forts. Its yellow sandstone turns honey-gold in the late sun, and camels carry travellers out into the Thar.

The motion

The camels pace (both legs of a side together, as camels do) as the sand streams by; the sun's rays turn; two birds cross the sky; the trees sway. A 16-second loop.

Colour

Marigold #FAA619

Tangerine #F15A22

Sunshine #FFDE18

Jaisalmer takes Marigold #FAA619, one of the three Sunny Days colours — with its icon in Steel Grey on it.

Another moment in Jaisalmer

A second scene: another true moment at Jaisalmer, 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

Dawn at Gadisar Lake: the sun rises behind the far shore and the fort on the horizon, the lake's stone chhatri stands golden on the water, a traveller sits on the ghat's steps listening to a musician playing the kamaicha, a peacock struts on the steps and cormorants fly over the lake.

Why this moment

Gadisar is the reservoir Maharawal Gadsi Singh built south of the fort in the 14th century, ringed with ghats, temples and stone chhatris, one standing out in the water, with the fort in view across the town. The kamaicha, a bowed lute with a round skin belly, is the instrument of Jaisalmer's Manganiyar musicians; peafowl are common round the town, and cormorants winter on the lake.

The sky wears Leheriya, from Rajasthan.

The motion

Cormorants fly across the sky over the lake; a cloud bank crosses the dawn sky; the sun's fan of rays breathes; the lake's rows run against each other; the musician sways as he plays. 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.

The sound of Jaisalmer

The desert's bow

Zostel calls, and Jaisalmer answers on the kamaicha, the desert's bowed fiddle, with the khartal and the algoza. Its track is Jaisalmer's own music with the place's air under it, a 30-second loop. Nothing plays until you tap.

kamaicha
khartal
algoza

Its lead is the music of the Manganiyar musicians of Jaisalmer and Barmer, named wherever this sound is used.

Jaisalmer's own music, from the research behind it: Future-proofing the Langa-Manganiyar heritage (The Hindu), Desert notes (The Hindu), Manganiar (Wikipedia).

What you hear in Jaisalmer

The camel
A camel's long gurgling grumble as it kneels on soft sand, the small bells on its neck jingling.
Its own sound · 4 s
Desert night
Night camp on the dunes: a campfire crackling, a cold wind over the sand, a camel shifting nearby, crickets, a dog far off.
Its air · 12 s
Dunes at sunset
Sunset in the open desert: wind over the dunes, sand hissing, a camel grunting and its neck bells jingling, a peacock far off.
Its air · 15 s
Fort lanes
Morning in the sandstone lanes of the golden town: pigeons clattering off carved balconies, a broom on stone steps, slow footsteps.
Its air · 12 s
Clappers and wind
A fast rattle of two wooden clappers, then a gust of desert wind carrying sand.
Sting · 3 s

Jaisalmer in symbols

Beside its icon, the things that are Jaisalmer, 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

The pagdi (master)Of the place
The Brand Manual's own Rajasthani pagdi (p37), used exactly: Jaisalmer's Desert Festival holds its turban-tying contest every February, and the pagdi with its moustache is the Thar's face.
SVG Grey SVG PNG
Patwon ki HaveliMonument
Patwon ki Haveli: five merchants' havelis built from 1805 by Guman Chand Patwa in yellow sandstone, storey on storey of carved jharokhas (about sixty balconies) — the living town's grandest street front.
SVG Grey SVG PNG
Gadisar's chhatrisMonument
Gadisar Lake, dug by Rawal Gadsi Singh in 1367 and for centuries the town's water: its chhatris stand out in the lake on stone platforms, the evening view of Jaisalmer.
SVG Grey SVG PNG
The kamaichaOf the place
The kamaicha, the Manganiyar musicians' own bowed instrument from Jaisalmer's desert: a round mango-wood bowl covered with goatskin, three gut strings and fourteen steel ones, played with a wide horsehair bow.
SVG Grey SVG PNG

Also drawn for Jaisalmer 34

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

Say hello to Jaisalmer's Zobus

Zobu in Jaisalmer'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 27

Jaisalmer'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

The animals of Jaisalmer

Animals and birds the research behind Jaisalmer's picture names, drawn in the Brand Manual's animal style, in colour and in the city grey. All the animals of India

Dromedary camelCamelus dromedarius
SVG Grey SVG PNG
Indian peafowlPavo cristatus
SVG Grey SVG PNG
ChinkaraGazella bennettii
SVG Grey SVG PNG

The kit

Everything Jaisalmer 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.

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

Profile

Jaisalmer’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 Jaisalmer’s own — for a grid, a story, a sticker.

SVG PNG

Icon

A monument: city grey, its detail cut out. Transparent; the mono takes any one colour.

SVG PNG Mono SVG

Loop

The sun stands behind it; its rays turn a 60° step each loop. 7.2 s, seamless.

Animated SVG Lottie JSON

Motion

The symbol becomes Jaisalmer 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 Jaisalmer under the wordmark — for signage, email and merch.

SVG

City symbols

Jaisalmer’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

Jaisalmer’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 Jaisalmer 5

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

The map we made for Jaisalmer

36 things to do around our two Zostels, two walks and 16 quests, on one A2 sheet that folds to A6 — a map made for travellers. Print it, fold it, go.

Download for print (PDF)Download the map (PNG)Download the guide (PNG)

A2, both sides, folds to A6. For print: double-sided, flipping on the long edge; at a print shop, the PDF at actual size.

ClickTap the sheet to zoom in

The mapClick to zoom in

The guideClick to zoom in

Its pieces on the map 58

Every spot on the Jaisalmer sheet, by what you go there for, each drawn with a drawing of the library. A piece opens its drawing with its files; the line under it names the other places that drawing belongs to.

Landmarks 19

Show all 19

Food 14

Show all 14

Culture and nights 4

Nature 3

Getting around 2

Quests 16

Show all 16

On the map

Jaisalmer is in Rajasthan, India — one of the 84 places where Zostel is live.

Region: Rajasthan
Country: India
Where: 26.92° N, 70.91° E
Landscape: Sunny Days

Make its poster Every place

Jaisalmer · Rajasthan · India

The story

Why this picture

The motion

Colour

Another moment in Jaisalmer

The story

Why this moment

The motion

In the picture

Its files

The sound of Jaisalmer

What you hear in Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer in symbols

Also drawn for Jaisalmer 34

Say hello to Jaisalmer's Zobus

Their faces, poses and moves 27

Faces 20

Poses 7

The animals of Jaisalmer

The kit

Also made for Jaisalmer 5

The map we made for Jaisalmer

Its pieces on the map 58

Landmarks 19

Food 14

Culture and nights 4

Nature 3

Getting around 2

Quests 16

On the map

Jaisalmer

Walk inside a living fort. Sleep under desert stars.

The story

Why this picture

The motion

Colour

Another moment in Jaisalmer

The story

Why this moment

The motion

In the picture

Its files

The sound of Jaisalmer

What you hear in Jaisalmer

Jaisalmer in symbols

Also drawn for Jaisalmer 34

Say hello to Jaisalmer's Zobus

Their faces, poses and moves 27

Faces 20

Poses 7

The animals of Jaisalmer

The kit

Also made for Jaisalmer 5

The map we made for Jaisalmer

Its pieces on the map 58

Landmarks 19

Food 14

Culture and nights 4

Nature 3

Getting around 2

Quests 16

On the map