Created by game director Takayuki Nakayama at the request of Capcom's Brazilian branch and series producer Yoshinori Ono's own inspirations from visiting Brazil, Laura went through multiple character designs during the course of development.

[4] Many potential iterations were considered from various backgrounds, including a male soccer player that had grown up in a poor neighborhood who fought using a ball and soccer-themed kicks.

[6] Towards the end of her development, they chose to go with a doji martial arts outfit for a "MMA" themed design focus, making adjustments to have it give off a sense of comfort and speed.

[9] Laura stands 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) tall, and her primary outfit consists of a green sleeveless jacket with yellow highlight tied up beneath her breasts, matching doji pants, sandals, and a black martial arts belt across her waist.

Her hairstyle is long and flowing on right side while the left is styled into cornrow braids, and along with her "voluptuous" body was meant to give her a more pronounced South American look.

[11] She is additionally featured in the story mode A Shadow Falls for the game, which shows her joining the other heroes in their attempt to stop the criminal organization Shadaloo.

[15] Originally Laura's design relied on her using throws to pressure the opponent, however the development team felt this caused her to lack individuality amongst the cast, as many other characters had similar attacks.

Combat director Ryuichi Shigeno stated he "hastily" gave her a slow-moving projectile attack, "Thunder Clap", to help set her apart, and was ultimately pleased with the results.

"[22] Ash Bates from Cultured Vultures meanwhile observed that "With the success of the UFC and MMA in general, including a character like Laura represented a modernisation for the series.

In an opinion piece published by Red Bull, Greg Candalez said Laura exemplifies the inappropriate and inaccurate stereotype of Brazilian women by international audiences as being sensual and prone to dressing provocatively.

"[26] Brazilian website Universo Online shared the sentiments, feeling that her "hypersexualized" design was at odds with attempts to better portray women in gaming, and further outfits that were released only highlighted the issue further, in particular when considering how other female characters were less sexualized by comparison.

While he pointed out that Brazil was a "universe of cultures", he stated was not uncommon to see women in the peripheral regions of Rio di Jainero similar to Laura, and felt that in Ono's case the inspiration for such a character was indeed apt with that in consideration.

Brazilian Society for Interdisciplinary Studies of Communication examined her portrayal in the context of race and feminism, where they observe "Laura has her image and her body hypersexualized and objectified for the contemplation of the players."

They drew particularly attention to the emphasis on the band between her buttocks, feeling it was "purposely exposed so that the male gaze is met", and was neither practical nor did it suit her role as a fighter.

They did however note that through the color of her outfit and bracelets, her character design conveyed "signs that express sensuality, joy, sexualization, miscegenation and Brazilian identity", though felt that when compared to Sean her lighter skin tone instead came across as an example of racial "whitening" to have her conform to "eurocentric" aesthetic standards.