Chui has been passionate about creating things from scratch since childhood. One of her earliest experiences with product design was during high school when she handcrafted pins, accessories and T-shirts to sell at a flea market. Encouraged by her parents and teachers, she pursued a fashion and textile design degree at university and won awards for her work.

Chui tried her hand at designing but realised that she didn’t have the commercial chops for it when one of her collections failed: “It was a collection of casual wear for females. My design was quite luxurious, with a focus on craftsmanship. I incorporated a lot of embroideries, but this had several drawbacks. How do you wash it? How do you style it for everyday occasions? I didn’t consider anything from the user’s perspective. It was a mess, and no one wanted to buy it.”

Learning from this painful setback, Chui realised the importance of evaluating products through the eyes of the customers. Despite having no prior knowledge of the business world, she pursued a master’s degree in the field with a major in marketing—a decision she remains grateful for today.

“Pursuing the master’s degree connected the dots for me. One of the most valuable lessons from my design education was the mindset of getting things done—the motivation and drive to make things happen—and the creativity of thinking outside the box. While studying business, I understood the value of customers from a market perspective. Combining these skill sets gave me the strength to differentiate myself from other competitors after founding Brandnographer,” she says.

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For Chui, products that create an impact should be designed with the consumers’ needs and expectations in mind. She gives the example of WeChat, a messaging app developed by the Chinese tech giant Tencent with over 1 billion active users. She takes inspiration from how its founder, Allen Zhang, built a “super app” with a wide range of features by continuously refining it based on regular use and feedback.

One method her consultancy uses is “life immersion”, where participants in the research upload videos of the pain points and frustrations of their daily lives on a proprietary app. For instance, the company once worked on a project for a cleaning product company analysing how people clean the shower area. Based on the insights they collected, most people in Japan and China would only wash it when showering. So, they prepared bathing suits and asked the respondents to film how they did it. “There is a joke that being an ethnographer means you’re a professional stalker,” she says.

As a book lover, Chui is particularly proud of the digital transformation project they undertook for public libraries in Hong Kong. Besides elevating the visitors’ experience in browsing the digital catalogue and improving the process of borrowing and returning books, it also introduces tools for librarians to manage collections. “We’re enhancing the citizens’ lives, encouraging them to read and levelling up their reading habits,” she says.

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Chui has steered Brandnographer through a decade of growth, deepening its technical prowess and expanding its understanding of diverse markets. Her secret to a sustainable business is to reflect on the company and serve its clients better. 

“The nature of our consultancy business is to be agile and solve the clients’ problems. So, we spent a lot of time to innovate methodologies for the ever-changing world,” she says. One tool her team has developed is Jomi, which enables the forecast of trends by processing real-time social media and search engine data from multiple sources. 

Chui also attributes the expansion of the business to her self-driven team. She has cultivated this attitude by following one rule: Everyone needs to feel valued. “It’s not just me that makes the decision; everyone else gets engaged to make it together. I want to make everyone proud and feel like their voice and what they did matters,” she explains. 

The company’s mission, which she believes resonates with her staff’s personal goals, has also fueled their hard work. “You know you are actually helping. You are creating a better community and world through your knowledge,” she says.

Looking ahead, Chui envisions a future where consumer insights are the linchpin of every business decision. She also hopes to make her mark and then fade into the background while her team becomes the undeniable stars of the show. “I want to keep everyone proud as they could see opportunities here. The success of the company lies in my team,” she says.

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