diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index 9784838523..8a5507e503 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 .gitignore export-ignore
 .gitattributes export-ignore
 /analytics export-ignore
-/assets export-ignore
+/static/assets export-ignore
 /bots export-ignore
 /corporate export-ignore
 /static export-ignore
diff --git a/docs/directory-structure.md b/docs/directory-structure.md
index a9c9c4b272..2e5d58af2e 100644
--- a/docs/directory-structure.md
+++ b/docs/directory-structure.md
@@ -58,8 +58,8 @@ templating systems.
 
 * `node_modules/` Third-party JavaScript installed via `npm`.
 
-* `assets/` For assets not to be served to the web (e.g. the system to
-            generate our favicons).
+* `static/assets/` For assets not to be served to the web (e.g. the system to
+                   generate our favicons).
 
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/assets/README b/static/assets/README
similarity index 100%
rename from assets/README
rename to static/assets/README
diff --git a/assets/default-default-avatar.svg b/static/assets/default-default-avatar.svg
similarity index 100%
rename from assets/default-default-avatar.svg
rename to static/assets/default-default-avatar.svg
diff --git a/assets/favicon/.gitignore b/static/assets/favicon/.gitignore
similarity index 100%
rename from assets/favicon/.gitignore
rename to static/assets/favicon/.gitignore
diff --git a/assets/favicon/generate b/static/assets/favicon/generate
similarity index 100%
rename from assets/favicon/generate
rename to static/assets/favicon/generate
diff --git a/assets/favicon/infinite.svg b/static/assets/favicon/infinite.svg
similarity index 100%
rename from assets/favicon/infinite.svg
rename to static/assets/favicon/infinite.svg
diff --git a/assets/favicon/orig.svg b/static/assets/favicon/orig.svg
similarity index 100%
rename from assets/favicon/orig.svg
rename to static/assets/favicon/orig.svg
diff --git a/assets/zulip-emoji/NOTICE b/static/assets/zulip-emoji/NOTICE
similarity index 100%
rename from assets/zulip-emoji/NOTICE
rename to static/assets/zulip-emoji/NOTICE
diff --git a/assets/zulip-emoji/README b/static/assets/zulip-emoji/README
similarity index 100%
rename from assets/zulip-emoji/README
rename to static/assets/zulip-emoji/README
diff --git a/assets/zulip-emoji/zulip.png b/static/assets/zulip-emoji/zulip.png
similarity index 100%
rename from assets/zulip-emoji/zulip.png
rename to static/assets/zulip-emoji/zulip.png
diff --git a/tools/setup/emoji_dump/build_emoji b/tools/setup/emoji_dump/build_emoji
index 3d9fe4c30f..5f08ff62f0 100755
--- a/tools/setup/emoji_dump/build_emoji
+++ b/tools/setup/emoji_dump/build_emoji
@@ -6,4 +6,4 @@ rm -rf static/third/gemoji/images
 (cd tools/setup/emoji_dump && python ./emoji_dump.py)
 mkdir -p static/third/gemoji/images
 mv tools/setup/emoji_dump/out static/third/gemoji/images/emoji
-cp -RPp assets/zulip-emoji/* static/third/gemoji/images/emoji/
+cp -RPp static/assets/zulip-emoji/* static/third/gemoji/images/emoji/
diff --git a/tools/update-prod-static b/tools/update-prod-static
index fb4afbddea..aee20e5f72 100755
--- a/tools/update-prod-static
+++ b/tools/update-prod-static
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ subprocess.check_call(['bash', '-ex', 'tools/setup/download-zxcvbn'],
                       stdout=fp, stderr=fp)
 
 # Collect the files that we're going to serve.
-subprocess.check_call(['python', './manage.py', 'collectstatic', '--noinput'],
+subprocess.check_call(['python', './manage.py', 'collectstatic', '--noinput', '-i', 'assets'],
                       stdout=fp, stderr=fp)
 
 # Compile translation strings to generate `.mo` files.