Legacy Platform Redesign

Smartwork is W.W. Norton's oldest online learning tool used by over 1 million students and instructors — and it only existed on desktop. Competitors already had mobile apps, and colleges were flagging accessibility issues.

The challenge was redesigning 100+ screens and 13+ question types for mobile and tablet, achieving WCAG 2.1 AAA compliance, and modernizing the interface — all without disrupting familiar workflows for 1M+ existing users on a legacy platform with limited flexibility and many constraints.

Make Smartwork fully responsive and WCAG 2.1 AAA compliant, without breaking what already worked for a massive, active user base.

Audited 100+ screens to identify accessibility, responsiveness, and visual design gaps across all question types

Broke the project into 6 sequential phases to roll out updates gradually without disrupting students mid-semester

Redesigned 13+ question types for mobile, tablet, and desktop — replacing drag-and-drop interactions with accessible dropdown alternatives compatible with screen readers and all devices

Updated all components to Design System standards and achieved full WCAG 2.1 AAA compliance

Delivered 12 annotated Figma handoffs, stayed involved through development, and handled all VQA and QA

Norton expanded Smartwork to 200+ disciplines (English, Psychology, History...) based on this redesign

The new responsive design enabled 2 AI features that are now built directly into the platform

1M+ students now have access to Smartwork on mobile and tablet for the first time

100% WCAG 2.1 AAA compliance achieved across all redesigned components

View the full case study here: https://stephanievaranay.com/sw-responsive Password: Guest2026