Video chat is a great way to communicate, but it doesn’t lend itself to the most flattering view of your face. The problem, of course, is that video chat almost always puts you in front of a large source of blue light (your computer screen) which rarely blends well with the ambient light in a dimly lit office. As an amateur photographer I’ve found myself tinkering with ways to fix the light on my face when I’m in a video call.

At first I just put a big orange image on the screen, which did the job nicely. However, I found that I often needed to take notes during calls, and bringing up my note taking application brought the ugly light back. So I took a few minutes to cook up a better solution.

Healthy Glow is one of the simplest web apps I can imagine, but it actually serves its purpose beautifully. It’s a big, orange text box that you can type notes into. It uses local storage so that your notes never get sent to the server and never get deleted unless your clear them (or change browsers.) No accounts, no back end, just a simple web page that addresses a very specific problem.

Have a look at a before and after image and I think you’ll agree that this very stupid idea of mine actually makes a significant difference:

Before: Ugly blue light

After: Healthy, warm light

If you spend a lot of time in front of a webcam, please feel free to give Healthy Glow a try. I think everyone involved in your next call will agree that it casts you in a positive light (groan.)