Problem
Lens-flare overlays cross important text and reduce letter contrast.
Solution
Root Cause / Diagnostic:
Optical flare overlays rendered with Screen or Add blending modes inject luminance across underlying typography, destroying letter-to-background contrast ratios. When the bright core or secondary streaks of a flare intersect font glyphs, the edges of the letters wash out into the surrounding background. This drops typographic legibility below acceptable thresholds, particularly on low-contrast mobile screens.
Actionable Step-by-Step Fix:
1. Reorder Layer Hierarchy: Move the typography layer to the very top of the layer stack, ensuring text renders completely over lens-flare and lighting effects.
2. Reposition Flare Origin: Move the optical flare center point outside the bounding box of the text, aiming the light streak away from font paths toward empty background space.
3. Add Dark Font Underlay: Apply a dark drop shadow (Opacity: 85%, Distance: 6px, Size: 12px, Angle: 120°) or a dark shape card behind the typography to guarantee a minimum 4.5:1 contrast ratio.
Pro Creator Tip:
Never let visual effects compromise typographic readability; if a lighting asset reduces letter contrast by even 10%, reposition the flare or eliminate it entirely.
Optical flare overlays rendered with Screen or Add blending modes inject luminance across underlying typography, destroying letter-to-background contrast ratios. When the bright core or secondary streaks of a flare intersect font glyphs, the edges of the letters wash out into the surrounding background. This drops typographic legibility below acceptable thresholds, particularly on low-contrast mobile screens.
Actionable Step-by-Step Fix:
1. Reorder Layer Hierarchy: Move the typography layer to the very top of the layer stack, ensuring text renders completely over lens-flare and lighting effects.
2. Reposition Flare Origin: Move the optical flare center point outside the bounding box of the text, aiming the light streak away from font paths toward empty background space.
3. Add Dark Font Underlay: Apply a dark drop shadow (Opacity: 85%, Distance: 6px, Size: 12px, Angle: 120°) or a dark shape card behind the typography to guarantee a minimum 4.5:1 contrast ratio.
Pro Creator Tip:
Never let visual effects compromise typographic readability; if a lighting asset reduces letter contrast by even 10%, reposition the flare or eliminate it entirely.