Laura Vennie

Director of Usability & Experience Design, Newell Brands Laura Vennie is an accomplished user experience research director with over 23 years of experience in the field. Currently, she’s the director of user experience and CMF at Newell Brands and has played a pivotal role in driving the company’s user-centered design approach. Laura is highly skilled in a range of research methods including usability testing, ethnography and sensorial research. She is adept at leading and managing cross-functional teams, ensuring that research findings are translated into actionable insights.

Activities for Laura

Speaker | Design Research Deep Dive | 2023

Newell L&D Lab Live

Newell Brands, a consumer goods company with several market-leading brands, recognizes the importance of understanding childhood development and the three key drivers of play: Cognitive, Social, and Physical. To address this need, they created the Learning and Development (L&D) Lab, a new research facility with specialized knowledge in childhood development.

In this session, Laura Vennie, UX Director, and Chris Gurr, ID Director, will take the audience on a behind-the-scenes tour of the L&D Lab’s creation, from its conception to reality. They will discuss the context for the development choices made, including the adoption of qualitative and sensory testing technologies to capture children’s emotional responses.

The session will feature live cuts to the L&D Lab, showcasing the space being leveraged to research popular products such as Elmer’s Slime and Elmer’s Squishies. The audience will also gain insights into key takeaways and learnings for anyone looking to try a similar approach in their business.

The audience will learn:

  1. The context for the development choices made.  The journey of the Lab from sketch to reality, and the ramp up of brand-new test methodologies for Newell Brands.
  2. The qualitative and sensory testing technologies that were adopted to capture children’s emotional responses.
  3. Key learnings and takeaways for anyone looking to try a similar approach in their business.