Isometric City Illustration for a Real-Time AI System
Budget: €250 – €750 EUR
Isometric City Illustration for a Real-Time AI System
Project Overview
We are building a real-time AI operating system (Elixir/Phoenix) — and instead of dashboards, we visualize the entire system as a living isometric city.
This is not just decoration.
Every building represents a real, running subsystem
Data flows through the city in real time
The city “breathes” based on system activity
Your role is to create the definitive visual reference artwork that our PixiJS renderer will follow.
Think:
SimCity meets a live AI system — where every building has a real job
What Makes This Unique
This is not a generic city illustration.
You are designing:
A functional metaphor for a complex AI system
A visual language that will define the entire product
A scene that must feel alive, purposeful, and reactive
The final artwork will directly influence:
real-time animations (light trails, activity glow)
system visualization inside a production application
future UI/UX design decisions
The City Concept
The city is built on a 30 × 30 isometric grid, divided into four distinct districts:
District Overview
District Mood Description
Stadtmitte (City Centre) Warm, active, welcoming User-facing AI services
Hafen / Logistik (Harbour) Industrial, efficient System infrastructure & data flow
Sicherheitsviertel (Security) Controlled, serious Security & system health
Cortex-Hügel (Cortex Hill) Futuristic, dominant Central AI brain
Buildings (24 total)
Each building is a 1:1 representation of a real subsystem.
Examples:
Postamt (Post Office) → Email ingestion system
Wohnzimmer (Living Room) → Chat system
Börse (Stock Exchange) → Autonomous trading
Kraftwerk (Power Plant) → AI model inference (GPU/LLMs)
Cortex Tower → The AI brain
Buildings must be recognizable real-world structures, not abstract shapes
Each should visually hint at its function and activity level
Living Data Flows
The city is connected by animated data flows:
Light trails moving between buildings
Energy intensity reflects system load
Flows must feel logical and believable
Examples:
Email → AI processing
Chat → Memory & knowledge
AI models → Brain
Security → Rate limiting
Your layout must support these connections naturally
infrastructure Layout
The city includes:
Two main roads (crossing at center)
A diagonal river dividing north/south
Three bridges
District-specific parks/green zones
Sidewalks throughout
Layout clarity is critical — this is used for real-time rendering
Visual Style
Core Direction
Isometric 2:1 projection (SimCity-style)
Clean, optimistic, high-tech
Functional — not abstract, not dystopian
Color Language
Each district has a distinct tone:
City Centre: warm, civic (#FFF8E7)
Harbour: cool industrial (#E7F0FF)
Security: subtle alert tones (#FFE7E7)
Cortex: deep purple, slightly bioluminescent (#F0E7FF)
Accents:
Electric cyan
Neon green
Amber LEDs (used sparingly for activity)
Key Requirement
The city must look like it actually works
Not:
static illustration
But:
alive
reactive
purposeful
Deliverables
Required
Final illustration
Full city view (bird’s-eye isometric)
Minimum 6000px width
High enough detail for zoom & slicing
Layered source file
PSD / AI / Affinity
Clean, structured layers:
buildings (each named)
roads
river
districts
parks
Layout guide
Which building is where
District boundaries
Road & bridge structure
Optional (nice-to-have)
Individual building sprites for use in renderer
Workflow
We work iteratively and fast:
Layout sketch
grid, districts, roads, river
Color & lighting concept
Full detail pass
all 24 buildings
Final polish
glow hints, readability, atmosphere
Feedback is fast (same-day)
Context (for better understanding)
This illustration is part of a larger system:
AI backend: ~900k lines of code
Live system metrics: visualized in real time
Multiple visual layers:
outdoor city (this project)
indoor agent office (pixel-art)
3D interactive environment
Your work defines the visual identity of the system
What We’re Looking For
Strong portfolio in:
isometric illustration
city / architecture / game environments
Ability to work with:
structured, layered files
UI-integrated visuals (readable at different zoom levels)
Tools:
Photoshop / Illustrator / Affinity / Procreate / Clip Studio
To Apply
Please send:
2–3 relevant portfolio examples
your preferred tool
estimated timeline for a project of this scope
Final Note
This is not a one-off illustration.
This is the foundation of a product’s visual language
We are looking for someone who wants to build something unique and memorable, not just “another city scene”.
Project Overview
We are building a real-time AI operating system (Elixir/Phoenix) — and instead of dashboards, we visualize the entire system as a living isometric city.
This is not just decoration.
Every building represents a real, running subsystem
Data flows through the city in real time
The city “breathes” based on system activity
Your role is to create the definitive visual reference artwork that our PixiJS renderer will follow.
Think:
SimCity meets a live AI system — where every building has a real job
What Makes This Unique
This is not a generic city illustration.
You are designing:
A functional metaphor for a complex AI system
A visual language that will define the entire product
A scene that must feel alive, purposeful, and reactive
The final artwork will directly influence:
real-time animations (light trails, activity glow)
system visualization inside a production application
future UI/UX design decisions
The City Concept
The city is built on a 30 × 30 isometric grid, divided into four distinct districts:
District Overview
District Mood Description
Stadtmitte (City Centre) Warm, active, welcoming User-facing AI services
Hafen / Logistik (Harbour) Industrial, efficient System infrastructure & data flow
Sicherheitsviertel (Security) Controlled, serious Security & system health
Cortex-Hügel (Cortex Hill) Futuristic, dominant Central AI brain
Buildings (24 total)
Each building is a 1:1 representation of a real subsystem.
Examples:
Postamt (Post Office) → Email ingestion system
Wohnzimmer (Living Room) → Chat system
Börse (Stock Exchange) → Autonomous trading
Kraftwerk (Power Plant) → AI model inference (GPU/LLMs)
Cortex Tower → The AI brain
Buildings must be recognizable real-world structures, not abstract shapes
Each should visually hint at its function and activity level
Living Data Flows
The city is connected by animated data flows:
Light trails moving between buildings
Energy intensity reflects system load
Flows must feel logical and believable
Examples:
Email → AI processing
Chat → Memory & knowledge
AI models → Brain
Security → Rate limiting
Your layout must support these connections naturally
infrastructure Layout
The city includes:
Two main roads (crossing at center)
A diagonal river dividing north/south
Three bridges
District-specific parks/green zones
Sidewalks throughout
Layout clarity is critical — this is used for real-time rendering
Visual Style
Core Direction
Isometric 2:1 projection (SimCity-style)
Clean, optimistic, high-tech
Functional — not abstract, not dystopian
Color Language
Each district has a distinct tone:
City Centre: warm, civic (#FFF8E7)
Harbour: cool industrial (#E7F0FF)
Security: subtle alert tones (#FFE7E7)
Cortex: deep purple, slightly bioluminescent (#F0E7FF)
Accents:
Electric cyan
Neon green
Amber LEDs (used sparingly for activity)
Key Requirement
The city must look like it actually works
Not:
static illustration
But:
alive
reactive
purposeful
Deliverables
Required
Final illustration
Full city view (bird’s-eye isometric)
Minimum 6000px width
High enough detail for zoom & slicing
Layered source file
PSD / AI / Affinity
Clean, structured layers:
buildings (each named)
roads
river
districts
parks
Layout guide
Which building is where
District boundaries
Road & bridge structure
Optional (nice-to-have)
Individual building sprites for use in renderer
Workflow
We work iteratively and fast:
Layout sketch
grid, districts, roads, river
Color & lighting concept
Full detail pass
all 24 buildings
Final polish
glow hints, readability, atmosphere
Feedback is fast (same-day)
Context (for better understanding)
This illustration is part of a larger system:
AI backend: ~900k lines of code
Live system metrics: visualized in real time
Multiple visual layers:
outdoor city (this project)
indoor agent office (pixel-art)
3D interactive environment
Your work defines the visual identity of the system
What We’re Looking For
Strong portfolio in:
isometric illustration
city / architecture / game environments
Ability to work with:
structured, layered files
UI-integrated visuals (readable at different zoom levels)
Tools:
Photoshop / Illustrator / Affinity / Procreate / Clip Studio
To Apply
Please send:
2–3 relevant portfolio examples
your preferred tool
estimated timeline for a project of this scope
Final Note
This is not a one-off illustration.
This is the foundation of a product’s visual language
We are looking for someone who wants to build something unique and memorable, not just “another city scene”.