Barnes & Noble
Bartleby — Every student’s private, professional homework helper with experts on tap at the touch of a button.
Long story short
A product of Barnes & Noble Education, Bartleby connects students with expert homework help. Keeping all users in mind, STRV advised on and implemented accessibility standards when designing and building the now top-rated iOS and Android apps.
Bartleby Highlights
— Holds a steady 4.5 rating on the App Store
— Includes 2.5 million+ step-by-step textbook solutions
— Covers 30 subjects, from business to social science
— Expanded its strategic partnership with VitalSource
Services / Deliverables
— Product Management
— Product Design
— Frontend Engineering
— QA
About Bartleby
To meet the needs of today’s students, campus bookstores no longer suffice. With Barnes & Noble Education’s most dominant market being colleges, Bartleby is an answer to the target audience’s demand.
Using Bartleby, thousands of students can search 2.5+ million textbook solutions within a digital database. On top of that, the platform connects them to subject matter experts that can provide a detailed response in as little as 30 minutes, and comes with an AI-powered photo submission option. All 24/7 and all in a single, top-rated app.
Challenge
Coming to STRV with solid footing thanks to its strong presence on the web, Bartleby required both iOS and Android apps. The team expected beautifully designed results that would be accessible for all users.
One of Bartleby’s initial challenges was finding a partner who would choose wisely: Native or React Native? Accessibility was also a huge focus throughout design and onwards; the Bartleby team was dedicated to keeping every disability and external limitation in mind, an approach that is close to STRV’s own.
Additionally, Bartleby had its own team with whom STRV had to collaborate, so we swiftly set up a communication structure that eliminated any mishaps or delays.
Solution
Our engineers settled on React Native, a perfect fit due to the solutions’ many future scaling possibilities and their form-based nature, with minimal interaction. They also provided thorough advice on accessibility best practices.
Following the successful launch of the MVP, STRV took care of the traditional post-launch maintenance. During this time, our suggestions regarding user engagement played a crucial role in getting the App Store rating to 4.6, with hundreds of reviews and tens of thousands of users worldwide.
When Bartleby decided on adding a new feature connected to solving math problems via photo submissions, STRV was able to quickly upscale the team and get to work, using OCR (Optical Character Recognition), ML (Machine Learning) and reliable API to deliver exemplary results. We can confidently say that our partnership has been one of mutual respect and pleasant, receptive communication. Whatever needs Bartleby may have in the future, we’ll always be proud to help.
