We’ve employed Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) at Firefly for the last two years. Because they are part of our formal review process, they’re used widely across the business. …

We value learning at Firefly. We value giving busy teachers more time to teach. We value giving students more ways to learn. We value ensuring our team always have access to continual learning by providing a £1000 per person training budget. We also value our community. …

I spent some of last week listening to some great design leaders share their thoughts at Leading Design 2017. Hosted by the fine folks from Clearleft the event is now in its second year. Before last year’s event, I was still trying to figure out what my job was, let…

I’ve recently asked Firefly’s design team to give up some of their precious time in pursuit of writing short articles here, on Illuminated. Like all design teams they’re incredibly busy, so why add another distraction in pursuit of something that — on the face of it—isn’t of strategic importance? I’ve…

I’m thrilled by libraries in Sketch Beta. I know it’s rather sad to be excited by a new feature in software, however, I’ve been waiting for this particular bit of functionality ever since we started using Sketch to manage our design pattern library. We currently use Brand.ai to share symbols…

I’m a firm believer that if you’re designing for the web you should have at least some idea of how to build for the web. For my money, nothing beats spending time with developers to cultivate your understanding of how things are put together. Indeed, such conversations should directly affect…

I don’t think its hyperbole to say that there’s a revolution happening in the design of digital products. Designers have long had the idea of designing interfaces from a kit of pre-built parts, but never really had the tools to do this effectively. Sketch is such a tool. At Firefly…

One of the things I spend a lot of time thinking about is education; or, more specifically the use of technology in education. I’m not a teacher, but I do work for a tech company whose goal it is to make education better. Recently the OECD released a report that…