Shillong

Why this icon The Khasi living root bridges of Meghalaya. Source: en.wikipedia.org

Zostel

The story

A morning in the gorge below Tyrna: a traveller stands on the upper deck of Nongriat's double-decker living root bridge, staff in hand, above the stream running clear over mossy boulders, the gorge's steep forested sides rising behind.

Why this picture

The double-decker at Nongriat, near Sohra (Cherrapunji) in the East Khasi Hills, is two bridges one above the other, grown over some two hundred years by training the aerial roots of rubber-fig trees across the stream, through hollowed areca trunks, until they braid into walkways and rails about a metre high. The roots are grey-brown and furred with moss, and more hang free beneath the decks. It is reached by the long stone stairway down from Tyrna; after the monsoon the stream runs full and clear over grey boulders, and butterflies drift over it.

The sky wears a faint Khovar, from Hazaribagh, Jharkhand.

The motion

The stream's lines run and the waterfall falls; butterflies flutter over the water and by the ferns; the ferns and the areca palms sway. A 16-second loop.

Colour

Orchid #AA5EA5

Valley Blue #4F87C7

Blush #F6ADCD

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

Another moment in Shillong

A second scene: another true moment at Shillong, 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 clear afternoon on the Sohra plateau after the monsoon: Nohkalikai Falls plunges in one long white drop off the plateau's edge into its turquoise pool far below, mist lying round it between the gorge's wooded walls; clouds sail over, a traveller at the viewpoint's railing points it out, and in a tree at the plateau's edge a western hoolock gibbon hangs from a bough.

Why this moment

Nohkalikai Falls near Sohra (Cherrapunji), on the way from Shillong, is India's tallest plunge waterfall: about 340 m in one drop off the edge of the plateau into a pool of an unusual turquoise-green, fed by the rain of one of the wettest places on earth, and seen from a viewpoint with a railing at the plateau's edge (Zostel's Shillong guide and our Meghalaya route map send travellers to Cherrapunjee's falls). The falls run fullest just after the monsoon, in October, when mist still gathers in the gorge. The western hoolock gibbon, India's only ape, lives in Meghalaya's forests and hangs and swings from the boughs by its long arms.

The sky wears Hexagonal weave, from Assam and Meghalaya.

The motion

Water runs down the falls; clouds sail slowly over the plateau; the gibbon swings from its bough and the trees sway; butterflies flutter over the grass; the sun's rays turn. 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.

Shillong in symbols

Beside its icon, the things that are Shillong, 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

Nohkalikai FallsOf the place
Nohkalikai Falls near Sohra: India's tallest plunge waterfall, 340 m in one drop off the edge of the Cherrapunji plateau into a pool of an unusual green, fed by the rain of one of the wettest places on earth.
SVG Grey SVG PNG
Ryndia shawlsOf the place
Ryndia: the Khasi Hills' hand-spun, hand-woven eri silk, worn as shawls and stoles, undyed off-white or in the maroon-and-mustard plaid of lac red and turmeric yellow that is the Khasi people's own.
SVG Grey SVG PNG

Also drawn for Shillong 2

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

Say hello to Shillong's Zobus

Zobu in Shillong'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

The animals of Shillong

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

Western hoolock gibbonHoolock hoolock
SVG Grey SVG PNG

The kit

Everything Shillong 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.

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

Profile

Shillong’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 Shillong’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 Shillong 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 Shillong under the wordmark — for signage, email and merch.

SVG

City symbols

Shillong’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

Shillong’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 Shillong 5

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

The map we made for Shillong

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

Watch sunrise over the gorgesLaitlum · 23.5 km · 55 min drive
Walk the sacred forestMawphlang · 27.9 km · 65 min drive
Row a boat past the geeseWard's Lake · 3.3 km · 45 min walk
Eat Shillong's fat momosPolice Bazar · 3.2 km · 40 min walk
See the North-East's culturesDon Bosco · 3.4 km · 45 min walk
Walk the pine golf linksGolf Links · 0.7 km · 9 min walk
Try water sports on UmiamUmiam Lake · 16.8 km · 40 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 Shillong, measured on OpenStreetMap routing. Map for representation purposes only.

On the map

Shillong is in Meghalaya, India — one of the 84 places where Zostel is live.

Region: Meghalaya
Country: India
Where: 25.58° N, 91.89° E
Landscape: Valleys

Make its poster Every place

Shillong · Meghalaya · India

Cross a bridge that grows. Two storeys of living roots.

The story

Why this picture

The motion

Colour

Another moment in Shillong

The story

Why this moment

The motion

In the picture

Its files

Shillong in symbols

Also drawn for Shillong 2

Say hello to Shillong's Zobus

The animals of Shillong

The kit

Also made for Shillong 5

The map we made for Shillong

On the map