Creating software people love!

User Experience Services
Analysis and design to gain the greatest Productivity

Your users want instant response and the ability to achieve their objectives quickly and effortlessly. They are looking for an experience so engaging, intuitive and effective that the tool itself becomes invisible. Just a natural part of their day to day functions. For the business, there is lasting daily ROI found in optimizing this experience and, at Surround Technologies, we are driven to build the most efficient, mission-driven, and objective-focused software applications possible to produce truly superlative solutions.

Below are services we offer to help you do the same. If you are looking for more information about UX, check out our Productive User Experiences page.

UX Analysis

Already have a system? We can lend a helpful eye.

Read More

UX/UI Design

Working with you towards your goal.

Read More

UI Testing

Users Opinions Matter. They drive the system

Read More

User Testing

We ask the questions that count.

Read More

Design Strategy

We know design matters.

Read More

UX Analysis

If your users are complaining to IT that they can’t get their jobs done, or necessary tools are missing but are actually there, we can help. Some systems are not built with the users in mind, but rather the functionality the developers needed to deliver. This can cause a conflict between what is needed and where in the system it is placed. Business priorities usually lack real user needs and what we think matters to users isn’t always what they think matters. Worse yet, we focus on a single screen or function at a time, and don’t consider a holistic view of the project and lose sight of where functionality could have been better planned.

Our UX Experts will walk through your application with you and get an understanding of not only it’s current state, but its origins. To know where you are going, one must first understand where they came from. We like to look at the HEART of the system. In UX Terms this means Happiness, Engagement, Adoption, Retention and Task Success. Using various metrics our team will identify any traps, dead-ends or alert you to possibly negative user interactions that may occur. We aim to find knowledge gaps and identify new strategies to better align your business goals with the users real needs.

We also look at the competition, what’s working and what isn’t? When it’s all said and done, we will work with you to plan a better UX and how to apply it without confusing your users and in most cases without requiring the need for any additional training. We know that every system is unique so it’s hard to consider a 1-test fits-all concept, but metrics work. By testing your system and having a clear understanding of any possible pitfalls, you can breathe new life in to your existing system and show users you do understand their needs. They’ll <3 you for it.


UX/UI Design

We will be there from the start, and guide you through the UX development process with us right there at your side. We follow a User-Centered Design (UCD) approach which puts the end-users at the center of design and development. How do we do this? We start by understanding your goals and create a strategy. This is our game plan. Then we discover what you have and don’t have. We interview, we dust off old requirement docs, we dig not only in to your data, but your users workflow habits, and we dig deep. We talk directly to your users at key points to make sure we are meeting real world requirements. Then we’ll analyze our findings to make sure that what you wanted is actually what you needed. We follow an iterative process and repeat these cycles until we feel we have identified and accounted for all of the projects usability objectives.

Once we have a solid strategy, the goal is clear - we get to Design. Our designers will work side-by-side with iterative prototypes to guide you to a visually complete system that you can actually see and walk-through prior to production. Our clients love this phase, because its a time and money saver.

By experiencing your system before production even begins, you can identify missing business processes, and even overlooked functionality that was hiding in plain site your users will love. We make sure the content of your system is presented correctly, both in the right place and at the right time. Using wire frames and high-fidelity prototypes you can visualize your system holistically and ensure your message and goals are clear and concise. Once the designs are approved, production begins with or without our developers and your users will be delivered software they’ll love.

Experience It All

Try A Free Demo of our Award-Winning Accelerator Product Today and create state-of-the-art software with modern UX and UIs for all of your Windows, Web or Mobile needs.

UI Testing

When you’re committed to the development of a long-term project, the wrong decisions can cost you. You can’t directly determine the effectiveness of a UX design based on traditional metrics like page views, dead links, conversion rates and time-on-page. Whether you have a system already or are building one, even 2 or 3, our UX Experts can test, A/B test, multivariate test (we like to test) and gauge whether the interaction between your users and system is finely tuned to meet the demands of your organization. By walking in the shoes of your users, you can learn a great deal about what frustrations they may endure, and sometimes what praises they have for functionality you came up with on the fly, and desire more of. From modern heat maps and eye gazing studies to tried and true techniques like survey and sampling we can identify any problems, provide insight and guide you to a better, more refined final product to deliver to your users, waiting to be loved. We question everything, and we test everything, over and over again. We do this until we are sure we’ve minimized every click, and simplified every process to ensure user satisfaction. We work harder so your users won’t have to.


User Testing

Sometimes you just feel like something is wrong. Sometimes your users do too. We understand that identifying problems inside of your systems can be difficult. Users often find it difficult to verbalize what exactly it is that is “not working” for them, and few times can express that in a way that developers can grasp or find a logical solution for. We sit with your users, interview them, create sample work-flows for them to follow and moderate usability testing sessions along side them. A zero stress ride along with a tool they are in control of. We ask questions, and gauge everything we can from the movements of their mouse to the tone of the voice when responding to questions to understand everything we can about the perception of the system being tested. We translate into technical terms what users can’t, and we provide design and architecture recommendations to alleviate any strains or stress users encounter.

Pre-launch market concerns? We can help.

We have access to test users around the globe that can test your website, app or system before it launches and gather critical information to make a stop/go decision. It’s never too late to test, but it’s always better to know before you go.

Our UX Experts will setup a testing group of any size you require and work along side these users in an open or blind study of your product and report the overall expectation of its effectiveness before you deploy.

Design Strategy

It influences trends, and can make or break a brand. Product design is not enough by itself, the supporting content is every bit as important. You have a message to get across, and it needs to be clear. Delivering a consistent visual message can drive a stronger brand recognition and improve a companies overall market share. Users need to see, read and understand your message as quickly and concisely as possible.

Your business depends on that message coming across clear. We’ll work along side you to define your vision and create a design strategy guaranteed to maximize brand awareness through consistency throughout the creative process and ingenuity in content awareness and placement.

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.

Steve Jobs