EDUCATION & COMMUNITY • ROMANIA • HUBS ECOSYSTEM
Mobile App, Web Admin and Website
Zbor: A digital ecosystem for youth hubs network
We partnered with the Zbor Hubs team to design, develop, and launch the website and first version of the Zbor mobile application, creating a digital space where young people can discover events, learn new skills, and engage with their local hubs through interactive and gamified experiences.
The project included a website and a cross-platform mobile app, a web admin platform, and a scalable cloud foundation, all delivered in under 6 months.
The Company
Zbor Romania is a national network of youth communities powered by BCR, created to support personal development, creativity, and collaboration among young people in the country.
Each hub offers workshops, events, and learning opportunities designed to help teenagers and students grow and connect with others.
The Product
The digital companion of the entire Zbor Romania Hubs ecosystem ( mobile application & website ) is giving users real-time access to events, workshops, learning modules, and personalized notifications across all hubs.
It includes a gamified points and rewards system and a structured learning area with lessons and short tests. A dedicated admin portal allows hub managers to post events and manage content throughout the network.
Working with Salt& Pepper was an outstanding experience
Working with Salt & Pepper on the Zbor app was an outstanding experience. We came to them with a challenging brief: building a fully functional app in just a few months — ambitious and almost impossible for most. Salt & Pepper took the challenge head-on and delivered.
The team quickly understood our vision, adapted to our needs, and guided us through the entire process with professionalism and creativity. In the end, not only did we launch the app on time, but the final product instantly received feedback like: “This app is so cool!”
For us, Salt & Pepper is a true partner we trust and look forward to continuously building great products with.
Andreea Blejan
Communication Manager, Zbor România
Scope and highlights
• Over 10K users within two months after launch • A–Z development: design, build, and QA by Salt & Pepper in under 6 months • Supports 7 Zbor Hubs nationwide with real-time event updates • Interactive and gamified learning experience inside the app
15K+ App Users
4.8 / 5 IOS Rating
5 / 5 Google Rating
Technologies
React Native (iOS/Android)
Firebase
NodeJS
NextJS
NoSQL
Development Directions
Mobile App
Web Admin
Cloud
Website
Mobile Development
The Zbor mobile app was designed for young users across Romania, providing access to events, lessons, and activities available within Zbor Hubs nationwide.
Built using React Native, the app ensures a seamless cross-platform experience on both Android and iOS, offering real-time updates, interactive learning modules, and gamified engagement.
The development focused on creating a smooth and intuitive experience around the core features of the platform, including a gamified shop, learning programs, event participation, and in-app transactions using earned points. These elements were carefully integrated to keep users engaged, motivated, and connected to their local hubs.
Web Admin
An independent web administration platform was created to help the Zbor team efficiently manage everything happening across the network of hubs.
The platform includes two distinct roles:
1. Super Admin: has full access across the entire platform, manages all hubs and global configurations.
2. Hub Manager (Admin): manages only the content of the hub they are assigned to, can add, edit, or delete events and update the details of their own hub
To ensure performance and scalability, the system uses a multi-database architecture:
-PostgreSQL (via Drizzle ORM) for all content managed in the admin panel
-Firebase Firestore exclusively for authentication and access rights, where administrator accounts and roles are stored;
-MongoDB for notifications, trivia, and recurring updates that can be created and managed from the admin platform
This structure provides flexibility, security, and a clear separation of responsibilities as the platform continues to scale.
Cloud Architecture & Implementation
Design and implementation of a scalable and secure cloud infrastructure using Google Cloud Platform (GCP) to accommodate expected user demand.
The platform leverages cloud schedulers and task queues to deliver intelligent push notifications with flexible timing options, ensuring users receive timely updates without overwhelming their experience.
Cloud functions handle essential background operations, including automatic media optimisation for uploaded images and videos, maintaining fast load times and consistent quality across the app.
Website
Alongside the mobile and admin platforms, Salt & Pepper also developed the official Zbor website (zborhub.ro), ensuring a unified digital presence across all touchpoints of the ecosystem. The development process was coordinated through regular syncs between the developer, the project manager, and the marketing representative, ensuring alignment at every stage.
The website was built using PHP 8.3, Elementor Pro, and the Sierra theme, and is hosted on Cyber_Folks. It uses Cloudflare DNS, matching the infrastructure used for the API and Web Admin. The team integrated essential tools such as CookieYes for cookie management, Revolution Slider for the homepage slider, Google Site Kit and Microsoft Clarity for analytics, Yoast SEO for search optimization, Wordfence for security, and Geo Maps for visually displaying hub locations across Romania.
The first functional version of the site was completed in under a month on a staging environment. The following weeks focused on refining with the Zbor teaM. The design direction was provided by the Zbor team and their designer, while execution and implementation were handled by us/
High Intensity Moments
One of the most intense moments came after our first internal testing release, when we discovered that some users were being randomly logged out of the app. After improving our observability and running A/B tests, the team traced the issue to a race condition at app startup, worsened by memoized network calls. When users reopened the app with a very weak signal, the cached failed request was incorrectly treated as an authentication failure, causing their tokens to be deleted.
The team quickly fixed the issue by improving connection checks, adding a retry mechanism, and removing memoization from the token service. The update was deployed instantly through CodePush, without requiring a new app release, resolving the problem before the public launch.
The Challenge
One of the main challenges of the project was understanding how an educational app should engage a young audience, mainly high school and university students. The team needed to find the right balance between learning and gamification, making sure the experience felt both educational and motivating. This required researching youth learning behaviors and integrating features such as explore and attend events at their preferred Zbor Hub, progress tracking, check in via QR code, and point systems to encourage continuous engagement.
At the same time, the project had a strict deadline: delivering a fully functional release by September 2025, with the development starting time being in April, the same year…
Additional challenges included developing both the mobile app for users and the web admin platform for hub managers within tight deadlines. The learning module was particularly complex because admins needed to upload large video lessons. To address this, the team implemented a solution that split videos into smaller chunks and applied compression and optimization. This significantly reduced file sizes and storage requirements while ensuring stable performance and fast loading times across all devices.
The Process
In March 2025, the Zbor Hubs team reached out to Salt & Pepper with a request to develop a digital ecosystem from scratch, planned for launch at the beginning of September. The goal was to create a digital platform that would connect and support their rapidly growing network of youth hubs across Romania.
The collaboration began with a Discovery Phase, during which the designer and project team met with the Zbor Hubs representatives in Bucharest to align on objectives, user needs, and technical priorities. Together, they transformed the initial vision into a clear roadmap of features and functionalities.
The design phase started immediately after discovery and lasted about one month. Meanwhile, the development team began building the infrastructure in parallel, even before the design was fully completed, ensuring that the project stayed on schedule and that technical foundations were ready in advance.
A pre-established design system with ready-to-use UI components was adopted to accelerate both design and implementation, ensuring visual consistency and smooth integration between front-end and back-end teams.
Through constant collaboration and agile iteration, the Zbor app was delivered on time, meeting all planned requirements and laying a strong foundation for future releases.
The UX-UI Process
ResearchThe design phase began with research focused on understanding the target audience- young people (mostly high school and university students) who need to be both informed and constantly engaged. The team explored how to combine learning and gamification in a way that makes the app interactive, rewarding, and fun.
Design SystemThe project leveraged an existing company design system that already included pre-coded UI components. This allowed for faster design-to-development handoff, ensured visual consistency, and made integration smoother for the development team.
PrototypingGiven the project’s fast-paced timeline, the prototypes were functional rather than pixel-perfect. They served primarily to validate flows and gather user feedback through on-site experiments at Zbor Hubs in Cluj-Napoca and Ploiești, helping the team fine-tune the user experience for the final version.
Cross-Platform DesignImplemented a cross-platform design approach that considered platform-specific UX requirements. The app seamlessly adapts to iOS and Android, delivering an optimized user experience while leveraging platform strengths for enhanced usability and engagement.
The Development Process
Infrastructure setupThe development process began with establishing a robust backend infrastructure, defining all APIs and endpoints to support smooth communication between the mobile app, web admin, and database. This early setup helped accelerate the following development phases and ensured a stable foundation for scaling the platform.
Mobile App DevelopmentThe mobile application was developed using React Native, ensuring full compatibility with both iOS and Android. It was designed to provide an engaging experience for users accessing events, lessons, and gamified features across Zbor Hubs. The app architecture was optimized for fast loading times and seamless real-time updates.
Cloud Infrastructure SetupA secure and scalable cloud infrastructure was built using Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Firebase, and PostgreSQL/MongoDB databases.The system was preconfigured to scale dynamically based on real user activity, optimizing performance while avoiding unnecessary costs for the client.
QA TestingQuality assurance was conducted by both the internal development team and an external QA specialist. The testing process ensured stability, smooth functionality, and data integrity across devices before the public release in September 2025.
Project management – Client RelationshipCollaboration with the Zbor Hubs team was clear and consistent. We used Slack for daily communication, Client Relationship, and they were present in our DSM ( 15 min long Daily Synch Meetings) to review progress, clarify requirements, and align expectations. A shared feedback document centralized all comments from the client, making revisions easy to track. Overall, the relationship was smooth, transparent, and built on trust and fast communication.
Project Management – Team RelationshipThe internal team worked with a structured process and clear ownership. Each DSM included task updates, priority alignment, design/UX reviews, and blocker removal. Urgent issues were escalated quickly, and milestones such as internal releases and launch preparation were handled efficiently. Strong coordination and disciplined communication ensured the project stayed on track and was delivered on time.
The Outcome
The project was successfully delivered on time and is now actively used across 9 Zbor Hubs in Romania’s major cities. Within the first five months after launch, the app reached over 15,000 users, becoming a central digital platform for learning, events, and youth engagement.
The Zbor mobile app now integrates interactive courses with short tests, a virtual shop that rewards participation through gamification, and daily events posted by hub admins that attract hundreds of participants each week. The Zbor Hubs team expressed strong appreciation for the collaboration. They highlighted that the team acted as true partners in building products, not just service providers, showing genuine commitment and adaptability throughout the entire project.
The product has now entered the maintenance phase, where Salt & Pepper continues to ensure performance optimisation , cloud scalability, and the development of new features to enhance the user experience.
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