A Day in the Life of UX & Product Designer Brenda Lau

Meet the former accountant turned product designer, Brenda Lau! Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Brenda was living in Austin, Texas when she found her calling in the design field. She headed to the sunny shores of Los Angeles. Brenda hasn’t looked back since, and she loves being able to channel her creativity to design engaging experiences at Centerfield. 

Q: Tell me about yourself and your role at Centerfield?   
A: I work on the Digital, Omni, and CRM team where I lead the design team for all our e-commerce buy flows, agent experience applications, and omni-channel initiatives. My team is very fast-paced, and I love being able to experiment with new designs to optimize our buy flows and internal applications to improve the overall user experience.  

Q: What’s the coolest thing you’re working on right now?   
A: I’m currently working on a user testing project where we run usability testing on our e-commerce sites. Usability testing is a method of testing a website’s functionality, application, or any other digital products by observing real users as they attempt to interact and complete tasks on it. This project’s main goal is to uncover opportunities where we can optimize and improve the user experience of our sites. So far, the feedback has been really interesting and has allowed us to get a fresh and unbiased perspective to understand what is important for our users.   

Q: What are your favorite things about Centerfield?  
A: One of my favorite things about Centerfield is definitely the people. Team culture and collaboration is strong throughout the company. Everyone is down to help each other, no matter how big or small the task may be. Recently, in the engineering department, the team has been organizing morning coffee dates to catch up. I really appreciated this gesture and enjoyed getting to learn more about each other, since most of the time, we are heads down working and only see each other in virtual meetings.  

Q: Any advice for people wanting to do what you do?   
A: If anyone wants to get into design, I would say to do your research, teach yourself new skills, and practice a ton! Design skills come from hard work, dedication, and a willingness to learn. Don’t be afraid to learn new things and be able to take in feedback.  

Q: What is your favorite WFH tip?
A: Get outside and breathe in the fresh air! Back when we were in the office, I loved taking long walks after lunch with my fellow coworkers. I find that changing the scenery and exercising a bit can really get my blood pumping and help me focus when I return to work. Now that we are working from home, I still try to keep that routine going and take a break in the sun when time permits.