Shimla

Why this icon Christ Church on the Ridge, consecrated in 1857. Source: en.wikipedia.org

Zostel Homes

The story

Blue dusk on the Ridge at Shimla: far along the open promenade Christ Church glows gold under its floodlights against Jakhoo's dark deodars, people of the town stroll at its foot, the moon is up in its circle of light and two magpies trail their long tails across the sky, the Ridge's lamps are lit and windows come on down the hillside, and a traveller with a staff strolls the Ridge as a monkey watches from the railing.

Why this picture

Christ Church (1857) stands at the east end of the Ridge, the broad open promenade along the top of the town at 2,206 m, with forested Jakhoo hill rising behind it. Its pale-yellow neo-Gothic tower with the 1860 clock turns gold under floodlights after dark, Shimla's most photographed view; the evening walk along the Ridge is the town's own, under its lamp posts, with rhesus macaques sitting on the railings and red-billed blue magpies gliding between the deodars on their long tails, and the houses climb the steep slopes below.

The motion

Two magpies fly across the whole sky; the moon's rings turn; stars twinkle; windows down the hillside light one by one; the deodars sway; the traveller strolls; the monkey's tail swings. A 16-second loop.

Colour

Orchid #AA5EA5

Valley Blue #4F87C7

Blush #F6ADCD

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

Another moment in Shimla

A second scene: another true moment at Shimla, 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 spring morning on the Kalka-Shimla line: the toy train stands at a stone tunnel mouth on the deodar slope below the town, and a traveller on the bank above the line waves to it; rhododendrons flower scarlet, a rhesus macaque stands on the portal and another ambles along the path, and blue magpies cross the valley.

Why this moment

The Kalka-Shimla Railway (1903, UNESCO World Heritage since 2008) climbs to Shimla on 2 ft 6 in gauge through 102 tunnels; its diesels wear blue and its coaches aquamarine and white. The slopes it climbs are deodar, oak and tree rhododendron, which flowers scarlet in spring; rhesus macaques sit along the town's walls and stations, and red-billed blue magpies glide between the deodars.

The sky wears Gond scales, from Madhya Pradesh.

The motion

Clouds and a pair of blue magpies cross the whole sky; the sun's rays turn; the deodars and the rhododendrons sway; the traveller waves; the macaque on the path breathes. 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.

Shimla in symbols

Beside its icon, the things that are Shimla, 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 State Library on the RidgeMonument
The State Library on the Ridge, beside Christ Church: a Tudorbethan building of steep gables and a half-timbered upper storey over stone, the Raj hill town's other face on the Ridge.
SVG Grey SVG PNG
Ice skates for the open-air rinkOf the place
Shimla's open-air rink below the Ridge, South Asia's only natural ice skating rink: every winter (December–February) the town skates, with a carnival on the ice.
SVG Grey SVG PNG
The Kalka–Shimla train at a tunnelOf the place
The Kalka–Shimla Railway (1903; UNESCO World Heritage, 2008): 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge through 102 tunnels; its ZDM-3 diesels wear two-tone blue and its coaches aquamarine and white — a train at a stone tunnel mouth.
SVG Grey SVG PNG

Also drawn for Shimla 2

Detailed icons from the library that name Shimla among their places: one drawing, on the page of every place it belongs to. Every detailed icon

Say hello to Shimla's Zobus

Zobu in Shimla'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 Shimla

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

Rhesus macaqueMacaca mulatta
SVG Grey SVG PNG

The kit

Everything Shimla 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 symbols and its Zobus — every file ready to download.

48 files in one zip, the cover, its second scene, its symbols and its Zobus included

Profile

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

SVG PNG