Kolkata

Why this icon The Howrah Bridge over the Hooghly. Source: en.wikipedia.org

Zostel

The story

A winter dawn on the Hooghly: the Howrah Bridge stands dark against the rising sun with yellow taxis on its deck, and a traveller sits on the ghat steps with a clay cup of chai from the chai-wallah beside him.

Why this picture

Howrah Bridge (1943, renamed Rabindra Setu in 1965) carries Kolkata over the Hooghly on a riveted steel cantilever with no cables, its two 82 m towers joined by a criss-cross truss, and some 100,000 vehicles a day, the yellow Ambassador taxis among them. Seen from the Howrah bank the winter sun comes up behind it. Chai by the river comes from a kettle on a clay stove, in a bhaar, an unglazed clay cup; country boats wait at the foot of the ghats, house crows walk the steps, black kites wheel over the water and ferries cross between the two banks.

The motion

The sun breathes; a flock of crows crosses the sky; the river lines run, row against row; steam rises from the cup and from the kettle; two kites wheel over the bridge; the crows on the steps peck; a ferry holds against the current and a country boat rides the swell at the foot of the steps. A 16-second loop.

Colour

Rani Pink #ED145A

Apricot #FFCE7B

Gulabi #EE3C96

Kolkata takes Apricot #FFCE7B, one of the three Flowers colours — with its icon in Steel Grey on it.

Another moment in Kolkata

A second scene: another true moment at Kolkata, 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 Durga Puja evening in North Kolkata: at blue hour a tram stands at its stop on an old street, strings of Puja lights chase over it from house to house and a lit gateway glows at the lane's end; two Kolkata Zobus out pandal-hopping, she with a clay pot of rosogolla, stand on the pavement, a yellow Ambassador taxi waits at the kerb, a street dog stands by them and two black kites wheel home over the roofs.

Why this moment

Kolkata runs India's only surviving tram network, its single-deck cars rattling past the old houses of the north of the city under a trolley pole (Zostel's Kolkata guide: ride the tram through North Kolkata). Each autumn Durga Pujo turns the city's lanes into galleries of pandals and lights, the lighting designed by Chandannagar's artists, and the city goes pandal-hopping late into the night. Rosogolla comes in unglazed clay pots, the yellow Ambassador is still the city's cab, and black kites wheel over its roofs to roost at dusk.

The motion

The Puja lights chase along their strings and round the gateway; windows light up house by house; two black kites wheel over the roofs; the moon's rings turn and a bank of cloud drifts across it; one Zobu sways on the beat. 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 Kolkata

Baul jazz

Zostel calls, and Kolkata answers on the hand harmonium, with the Bauls' dotara and ektara. Its track is Kolkata's own music with the place's air under it, a 29-second loop. Nothing plays until you tap.

hand harmonium
dotara
ektara

Its lead is the music of the Bauls, named wherever this sound is used.

Kolkata's own music, from the research behind it: Baul songs (UNESCO), Dwarkin (Wikipedia), Park Street, Kolkata (Wikipedia).

What you hear in Kolkata

The yellow taxi
An old yellow taxi's short nasal double honk, then its heavy door slamming shut.
Its own sound · 4 s
Dawn street
A winter dawn: an old tram clanging and rolling on its rails, a rickshaw horn, a taxi, crows, a ferry's low horn on the river.
Its air · 15 s
River ferry
On a slow ferry across the wide brown river: the engine's thrum, water on the hull, its horn, kites crying, a rope thrown onto a jetty.
Its air · 15 s
Tea stall
A roadside tea stall on a cold morning: tea poured pot to pot, clay cups set down and one smashed, a kettle, a tram behind.
Its air · 12 s
Tram bell
An old tram bell clangs twice, then a short whoosh.
Sting · 3 s

Kolkata in symbols

Beside its icon, the things that are Kolkata, 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

Victoria MemorialMonument
The Victoria Memorial (William Emerson, 1906-21): Kolkata's white Makrana-marble hall, 103 m long and 56 m high, its great central dome on a drum ringed by four chhatris and domed corner towers; the bronze Angel of Victory on the dome is left out.
SVG Grey SVG PNG
The yellow Ambassador taxiOf the place
The yellow Ambassador taxi: the Hindustan Ambassador (1958-2014, the Morris Oxford III's humped bonnet and round lamps), built at Uttarpara outside Kolkata and still the city's yellow cab.
SVG Grey SVG PNG
A Kolkata tramOf the place
The Kolkata tram: Asia's oldest running electric tramway (horse cars 1873, electric 1902), single-deck cars under a trolley pole on the city's streets; two routes still run.
SVG Grey SVG PNG
Rosogolla in a clay potOf the place
Rosogolla: white, spongy chhena balls cooked in light syrup, made famous in Kolkata by Nobin Chandra Das (1868) and sold in unglazed clay pots; GI-tagged as Banglar Rasogolla in 2017.
SVG Grey SVG PNG

Also drawn for Kolkata 48

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

Say hello to Kolkata's Zobus

Zobu in Kolkata'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 29

Kolkata'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 20

Poses 9

Show all 9

The animals of Kolkata

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

Black kiteMilvus migrans
SVG Grey SVG PNG

The kit

Everything Kolkata 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.

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

Profile

Kolkata’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 Kolkata’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

Festival bunting flutters above it, or confetti points twinkle. 7.2 s, seamless.

Animated SVG Lottie JSON

Motion

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

SVG

City symbols

Kolkata’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

Kolkata’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 Kolkata 5

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

The map we made for Kolkata

57 things to do around our Zostel, two walks and 14 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

The phone map

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

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

Its pieces on the map 82

Every spot on the Kolkata 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.