Lucíola's Story
As a science teacher, I was always drawing. I'd live-draw diagrams wherever I could because sometimes, the best way to help students understand something was to make it visible.
But some concepts were far too intricate to draw from scratch in a lesson.
I wanted high-quality diagrams that reflected the language I used with my classes, matched the curriculum and used the terminology students would come across in their exams.
So, I started making them myself.
My students often wanted to take the diagrams home, too, to use for revision.
That made me think about what makes a good science diagram. It needs to be scientifically accurate, of course, but also clear, visually appealing and something students actually want to look at again.
And it needs to show the right information at the right point in their learning, without overwhelming them with everything they might eventually need to know.
That became the thinking behind Lucíola.
Why Lucíola?
In summer 2026, my family lost my little sister, Hannah, to cancer.
At 19 years old, she was tech savvy, so I inherited her iPad and pencil.
I started doodling and found myself drawing science diagrams. It was comforting and creative, and took me back to the part of teaching I had always enjoyed so much!
That was where Lucíola began to take shape.
Lucíola is a genus of fireflies (a scientific group used to classify closely related species), so Lucíola is a group of fireflies.
Fireflies also have a particular personal meaning to me and my family, which made the name feel like the perfect fit for something created to bring a little light and clarity to science learning.
So there is a little piece of Hannah in Lucíola, in the name, and in the story behind how it all began.
