Being a creative professional requires a lot of visual work and focus. After all, the eyes are vital in helping you sketch, choose the right colors, and work on your craft in general.
Clear eyesight also allows you to spot and avoid minor mistakes to ensure high-quality pieces. However, creative work can also be dangerous for your vision health. For example, woodworking without the proper protection can lead to eye injuries from flying debris, which can eventually cause irreparable damage. Research on ocular injuries from wooden projectiles found that 10% of these injuries led to permanent disability, while 37% required lifelong follow-ups.
Crafting isn’t the only risk for artists’ eye health. In the United States alone, digital eye strain affects 65% of Americans, and around 2,000 people sustain work-related eye injuries every day. Compromised vision can significantly affect creatives’ artistic practice and livelihood, especially since your eyes are crucial in making your vision come to life. Proper eye protection is, therefore, essential to help preserve vision, health, and, subsequently, your art and livelihood.
That said, here are some of the best eye protection and health tools for creatives:
Safety goggles
Safety goggles are essential for crafters inclined to woodworking, stonemasonry, and other material crafts to protect the eyes from tiny projectiles or debris that can cause severe damage like lacerations, eye pain, and even vision loss. However, artists who need vision correction may forego the proper safety equipment in order to wear their usual corrective lenses. Instead of sticking with inadequate protection, you can opt for prescription safety glasses that meet the safety requirements of the American National Standards Institute and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Wraparound safety glasses that provide total eye coverage, like the X Slay and X AirRage from Wiley, can ensure that no small debris or foreign objects can reach your eyes while keeping your vision clear to help you avoid errors. Wearing safety glasses not only enables you to craft top-notch pieces but also prevents major and minor eye injuries.
Blue light filters
The digital devices that graphic illustrators use for their work, like laptops, tablets, and computers, emit high amounts of blue light, which has the shortest wavelength and highest energy in the visible light spectrum and can easily reach the retina. Research has shown that blue light overexposure can cause visual discomfort or digital eye strain and even retinal damage in the long term. To avoid eye strain symptoms like dry eyes, blurry vision, and headaches that can hamper any graphic artist’s productivity, you can invest in blue light filters for monitors specially designed to reduce the blue light emitted by your devices. You can choose a blue light filter for your tablet, laptop, or computer from retailers like Ocushield and EyeJust to improve your visual comfort even during long hours of sketching or designing.
Monitor light bar
Aside from blue light, poor and inadequate lighting can also cause vision fatigue, especially for web designers and digital artists who constantly stare at their computer screens. Illustrating or designing with your computer in poorly lit spaces can compel your eyes to work and focus harder, resulting in eye strain that can affect productivity and the quality of your output. To help you work more efficiently and protect your eyes, you can use a monitor light bar such as the ASUS ROG Aurora ALB01 that can be easily clamped or mounted on your computer screen to provide ample illumination while you work. This monitor has an adjustable warm front light and a customizable RGB backlight to help improve the lighting of your setup without the need for bulky desk lamps.
Neck light
Crafters doing close work like knitting or embroidery know the importance of attention to detail, especially when doing intricate patterns. That said, adequate lighting is also crucial to help with creating flawless work and preventing eye strain. However, since desk lamps or overhead lighting can cast shadows that cause constant readjustment and vision fatigue, wearable and hands-free lighting is the best option for providing the right amount of illumination. Try a portable neck light that hangs around your neck and that you can easily carry anywhere – from your couch to a bus seat. The Glocusent LED Neck Light and Gritin Neck Light are viable options if you prefer adjustable color temperatures and long battery life to help you knit comfortably for extended periods.
Being a creative artist can compel the eyes to work extensively for long hours. Preserve your vision health with the help of these eye protection tools to ensure both excellent output and a better quality of life.