Varkala

Why this icon Varkala's red laterite cliffs are a National Geological Monument. Source: keralatourism.org

Zostel

The story

Golden hour on Varkala's North Cliff: a traveller sits on the cliff-top grass behind the rail beside a surfboard, watching the sun go down into the Arabian Sea, while further along the coast the banded red cliff drops to the beach, where people walk the sand.

Why this picture

Varkala is the only stretch of southern Kerala's flat coast backed by cliffs: a wall of sandstone and clay up to about 40 m high, banded red, ochre and cream under a dark laterite cap, a National Geological Monument. Palms and cafés line its top, springs spout from its face onto the beach, and it faces west, so sunset over the sea is the day's ritual. Surfers ride its waves from October to April; dolphins pass offshore and Brahminy kites glide along the cliff.

The sky wears Gond scales, from Madhya Pradesh.

The motion

The sea's rows run, each its own way, and waves roll in onto the sand; birds fly home across the sky; a kite wheels over the sea; a dolphin arcs out of the sea now and then; the palms sway; the sun's fan of rays breathes. A 16-second loop.

Colour

Sky #9CDCF9

Lagoon #34C2D7

Ocean #0072BC

Varkala takes Sky #9CDCF9, one of the three Waters colours — with its icon in Steel Grey on it.

Another moment in Varkala

A second scene: another true moment at Varkala, 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 morning surf lesson below Varkala's cliff: seen from the curve of the beach, the banded red cliff stands over the beach with its palms, the morning sun above it; in the shallows the instructor steadies a learner who pops up on a small wave, and a traveller stands at the waterline with a soft-top board under his arm, about to go in, while a black kite glides along the cliff.

Why this moment

Varkala's surf season runs from October to April, and the beaches below its cliff are where the surf schools teach beginners on soft-top boards in the calm mornings (Black Sand Beach 'is popular among surfers in the morning'). The cliff, banded red, ochre and cream under a laterite cap with palms along its top, faces west, so in the morning the sun stands over the land behind it; kites glide along its face.

The motion

The sea's rows run and small waves roll in toward the beach; the learner rides the wave, rising and settling; the kite glides in a long loop along the cliff; birds cross the sky; the palms sway; 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.

Varkala in symbols

Beside its icon, the things that are Varkala, 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 Varkala TunnelMonument
The Varkala Tunnels (1867–1880): two tunnels, 572 m and 720 m, cut through the laterite under Varkala for the Thiruvananthapuram–Shoranur canal by Travancore's Diwan T. Madhava Rao's engineers, brick-lined with arched entrances — the 19th-century waterway under the cliff town.
SVG Grey SVG PNG
A surfboard at sunsetOf the place
Surfing at Varkala: soft-top lessons for beginners in the gentle October-to-April surf under the cliffs — and then the cliff's daily ritual, the sun dropping into the Arabian Sea.
SVG Grey SVG PNG

Also drawn for Varkala 19

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

Say hello to Varkala's Zobus

Zobu in Varkala'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 14

Varkala'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 4

The kit

Everything Varkala 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.

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

Profile

Varkala’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 Varkala’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

The water flows, and whatever floats rides it. 7.2 s, seamless.

Animated SVG Lottie JSON

Motion

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

SVG

City symbols

Varkala’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

Varkala’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 Varkala 4

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

The map we made for Varkala

38 things to do around our Zostel, two walks and 17 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 Varkala, measured on OpenStreetMap routing. Map for representation purposes only.

Its pieces on the map 67

Every spot on the Varkala 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.