For all of you spending your days working in design, it’s almost a certainty that you’ve experienced some form of discomfort associated with excessive hours in front of a screen. Upwards of 8 hours a day staring at bright LED is not good for us, of that there is no denying.

But did you know the root cause of this? A new eyewear company, Ambr Eyewear, does, and has created a range of stunning glasses to make your work day strain-free.

Our digital devices emit a high-energy visible light, known as blue light. Blue light is the closest wavelength of light to UV that’s visible to the human eye. Over recent years, a multitude of studies have attributed exposure to blue light to a number of conditions, including:

  • Eye Strain and Migraine: The bright light from your screen can provoke headaches, sore eyes and blurred vision.
  • Sleep Disorders: Blue light exposure decreases the brain’s ability to produce melatonin, the sleep-inducing hormone. This is why you find it so difficult to fall asleep after a long day in front of the screen.
  • Macular Degeneration: More recent studies have shown that blue light can trigger “toxic” molecules in the retinal cells, increasing the chance of early onset macular degeneration.

While all these symptoms are pretty scary, don’t worry, Ambr Eyewear has developed a stylish solution to keeping your eyes protected from blue light. While other glasses have done something similar for a while, the key difference with these ones is that the lenses are clear.

This means two particular benefits for designers – they look great, and they also don’t affect your colour perception!

Developed by Irish couple Daniel Nugent and Sacha Cahill, both graduates of digital design, the company has gone from strength to strength since being founded in 2017. “Working in design and spending over 8 hours a day at a screen was having profound negative effects on our daily lives,” said Sacha. “Burning eyes and disrupted sleep was all too common. We couldn’t use blue light blocking glasses because all brands were using a yellow or orange hue. As a designer, it’s not feasible to work when everything is orange!”

The pair then worked on creating a range of stylish, quirky frames that incorporate the blue light blocking technology. On their website, you’ll find 23 different frame styles and also a childrens range. The glasses are available in non-prescription and prescription, so even if your vision is perfect you can still wear them! www.ambreyewear.com

About the Author

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Mirko Humbert

Mirko Humbert is the editor-in-chief and main author of Designer Daily and Typography Daily. He is also a graphic designer and the founder of WP Expert.