SUN Glasses

Sun glasses, it seems that the only way to not have them is to just be an idiot. We know the sun hurts your eyes, you are going to get wrinkles faster without protection, and still some people don't wear them. Ok, fine, at least you aren't spending money (yet) on terrible sun glasses design. Sun glasses first and foremost should stop harmful rays from reaching your eyes, but take a look at these bad boys;


I understand that they are a fashion piece, but none the less, i can't help but notice that these glasses didn't follow any kind of logical design processes. They do not do what sun glasses are supposed to do, are not adjustable to any degree, and about all they have going for them is an obsession from the R&B artist circle. I could bash them all day, but perhaps I started out on the wrong path. Perhaps i am assuming that the persona for these are users who are out in the sun and need to be protected when in fact i couldn't be more wrong!

Lets investigate these glasses with a little reverse engineering and design.
What do these glasses actually do?
The Block around 45 percent of all light wave lengths striking the area around our eyes
They make it hard to see where the user is looking
They are usable at night, artificial light, and cloudy environments
They are extremely cheap to produce as they are just a plastic injection mold with 2 screws

What don't they do?
They don't block a reasonable amount of UV rays compared to any other outdoor eye wear (which block 99.9999 percent of all harmful rays)
They don't hold up well in harsh environments

Well with these observations, clearly the designers had a different persona in mind than i did, lets take a look...

They must have been targeting individuals who didn't have to worry about the sun a significant amount of time, so we are looking probably at individuals who are night travelers, live underground, or are from Alaska. We can safely say that the night owls are the primary persona as nearly every college student could be considered here at some point, not to mention the numerous night shifts and 24/7 walmart positions, the secondary are pasty white hermits or World of Warcraft players, and Alaskans probably were not considered as a viable market (harsh weather clause).

Since they block all light, not just UV, these glasses must be intended for users who need to block out their environments, but since they are so cheap, they must also have been meant to be either replaceable or affordable. If we stick to what we already know about their environment, then it would make sense for the college night owl user to be our focus; they can't handle to much input and need help blocking out some information, chances are they have just arrived at a bar/party or are waking up to some unpleasant realities. If someone knocks them off, they put them down and get stepped on, no problem! just get a new pair.

A weak persona to be sure, but its better than nothing.