Hi, we are Zayko
we create web apps and sites.
beautiful, social, responsive.
beautiful, social, responsive.
Social platform for people who believe all children and young adults should have access to great books.
Behind a simple and beautiful visual interface, BookMentors offers a rich and engaging experience. Members suggest new books, write book tributes, talk about books and to each other. Teachers post requests for the books their students need. Donors do not just choose the requests they want to fulfill... but also pro-actively post offers for favorite books they want to see read by young people.
Zayko developed a full branding/identity package for BookMentors — logo, all corporate identity elements, visual design and all graphic details of the website — custom icons, etc.
Technology wise, we custom developed the site as a social network application with integrated e-commerce functions. It is automatically enriched with content and data (books, schools, etc.) pulled through multiple external APIs. The processes of donating and procuring the books are fully automated. The system is built on an open source HTML5/JS/CSS3/LAMP stack. It is hosted and automatically backed up on multiple servers on Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Gina founded Zayko in 2000. In 2005, she was profiled by CREATE Magazine and, in 2006, she received an Interactive Media Outstanding Achievement Award. Gina studied Information Science at the University of Michigan and graphic design at The Art Institute of Boston. She holds a M.A. in Near Eastern Studies from Sofia University and a Certificate in Web Design and Development from Boston University. Gina loves taking pictures of squirrels, swimming, and backpacking. In her free time, she serves as Website Committee Officer at the International Women's Club of Boston and volunteers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Emil is a software/web architect of products hailed as "best of the best" by The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur Magazine, the American Library Association, the US Congress Administrative Office, and many others. Emil dropped out of his Ph.D. studies at the University of Michigan after getting infected by the Internet virus. But he still has his Master's in Architecture from Sofia Architecture & Civil Engineering University. He loves watching squirrels. In his free time, Emil designs a secret product that will soon replace Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr combined.
Val is a hugely experienced "full-stack" system engineer and developer, who has recently developed the latest version of the social network site Aidpage. He has worked at ProPeople, People Networks, Aidpage, and IDILOGIC. Val has a Master's in Computer Science from Sofia Technical University. He loves photography, backpacking, and camping in magical places like the Zion National Park.
Stamen is our front-end engineering wizard. He has worked at Telerik, Everbread, Lessno, and Aidpage. Stamen has a Master's in Informatics from Varna Economics University. In his free time, he creates electronic music (trance, techno, ambient).
Elena does mostly front-end coding... for now. She has worked at Telerik, SimpleSite, Everbread, and Publicis. Elena is currently completing her Master's in Computer Science from Sofia Technical University. She has a dog and loves skiing.
Jennifer Soalt
Founder, Executive Director
BookMentors
Concord, MA
I came to Zayko with an idea for developing a nonprofit platform, which used micropatronage and social interaction to address book access problems in high-poverty schools.
The logistics of designing such a hybrid website, which combined aspects of social networking, e-commerce, and the manipulation of book databases, were extremely complex and ever shifting.
The staff of Zayko showed ingenuity, persistence, patience, creativity, and thoughtful planning as we worked on developing the site over the course of 18 months. They were always able to come up with a clever solution to whatever problem arose, and were always willing to put in whatever extra effort it took to make all parts of the site function equally well. At all times they listened to our plans and built on them in ways that grew our initial ideas into a truly appealing social nonprofit platform, where donors and teachers can give, get, and talk books.
We were very lucky to find a web development group which combined excellent design sense and aesthetics with a great ability for executing a challenging concept from start to finish.
Patricia Onorato
Co-founder, President, Chair of the Board
Vulvodynia Matters
Waltham, MA
Zayko did a fabulous job creating the Vulvodynia Matters website! They understood exactly our vision for the website and also provided training for me and a colleague so that we can make updates to the site.
Sarah Swanson
Director of Marketing and Development
Springstep Art Center
Medford, MA
You have made a very big difference to Springstep's overall success. I'd like to commend you on your excellent customer service. It has always been very easy to work with you. And, many times you have exceeded my expectations by providing personal training, ensuring our staff understood any new systems that you built for our site.
Thank you for your excellent work!
Denise Wolk
Director of Publications and Communications
Educators for Social Responsibility
Cambridge, MA
It is with great pleasure that I recommend the services provided by Zayko, and its principal Virginia (Gina) Sotirova. Zayko has been providing web design services for Educators for Social Responsibility since we began doing business together in December of 2007. Gina and her team were able to step in and take over the existing site for us. They have completed re-engineering our CMS and training our staff to use the new interface.
Laurel Finucan
Web Project Manager
New England Anti-Vivisection Society
Boston, MA
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! ...for doing such a great job on the Project R&R site. It looks really fabulous. Gina, it was very nice working with you and Emil, and we hope to continue our work down the road.
Theodora Capaldo, Ed.D.
President
New England Anti-Vivisection Society
Boston, MA
Gina is a pleasure to work with. Her commitment to excellence is always apparent as is her desire to give her client what they need and want. We feel we are in good hands with her.
Carla Golden
Website Project Coordinator
Sea Pines Montessori Academy
Hilton Head Island, NC
This is so incredibly exciting for me to witness...
A prospective parent visited today and wants her child to attend SPMA. She told the Head of School that she spent hours on the spma.com site and was practically convinced it was the right school before she actually stepped foot on campus.
The site is working for us! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
We are located in Boston, Massachusetts. We serve clients nationwide and we are currently accepting new projects!
Zayko projects start at $50,000.
Call us — 617.383.9011
Email us — team@zayko.com
Or, use the form.
Thanks!
