Laura is a strategically minded design leader and culture builder who has extensive experience in branding, leading global rebrands of organizations such as Sonos, ASICS, and Linksys. She has collaborated with a diversity of clients from lululemon to Hutchins Center at Harvard University to Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism. Her work crosses fields of culture, fashion, architecture, technology, education, and place across brand, print, motion, digital, and environmental. Laura’s long-term partnership with Sonos saw her team through the design of multiple facets of the wireless audio brand experience — digital, retail, social, packaging, and content.
Her work has been featured in books such as Designing Brand Identity and Dynamic Identities as well as publications like Fast Company, Communication Arts, It’s Nice That, Print and Creative Review that she can speak to. She has been recognized by Cannes Lions and D&AD, among others. She has served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Advertising and Design Club of Canada. She enjoys talking about vision and process at conferences like Brand New, DesignThinkers, FITC and has juried many leading competitions.
Laura had an unconventional start to her design career, dipping her toes in the music world riding the wave of the Seattle grunge scene in the ‘90s with her all-female band, Jale, as a singer and bass guitarist. Signed to notable Sub Pop Records and touring the world, this was when Laura found her gateway to design. Though she studied fine art, it wasn’t until she began designing Jale’s album covers and posters that she took interest in design and branding. Laura’s musical background has given her a unique perspective into branding and a testament to her established career, expertise and perspective as CCO for the award-winning firm.
What principles guide your design decisions?
1.Build character — Every piece of design needs to be part of the brand’s DNA, share and sometimes extend, its point of view, voice or visual language
2. Draw us in — Is it unexpected (but still building character)? Is it original and different than what we see day to day? is it so well-crafted that we can’t look away?
3. Be simple — Is it clear, easy to digest? Is it graphic and strong?
4. Consider the earth — Have we looked at eco-friendly ways to produce this?
What trend do you think the industry is overvaluing – and one it’s overlooking?
It’s obviously hard to talk about AI as a trend — it’s more of a gale force wind. And designers are all trying to figure out how it can make our work better, not cheaper and sloppier. Will it provide real value in the end, or will it be another tool for our toolkit in the end. That said, now that Covid lockdowns are in the rearview mirror, I believe people will reassert in-person connections. Build trust, create together, capture the spark and love of creativity.
Creative Comment: What AI Can and Cannot Do
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GDUSA Digital Magazine: April 2026
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