Solving small text and contrast issues for large-screen readability

Why your beautiful UI becomes unreadable the moment it hits a TV screen—and how to fix it.

The user experience for TV aligns more with billboard design than with app design, and cannot be treated as a simple enlargement of mobile interfaces. The challenges of viewing distance, screen variability, lighting conditions, and non-touch interaction all collide—and small typography and low contrast are usually the first things to break. It’s a reminder—especially on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities—that accessibility isn’t a side note, but central to resilient design.

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Here’s how to fix them before your users struggle, squint, or churn.

Why TV text fails: the 10-foot problem

Smartphone users typically hold their devices 10 to 14 inches from their face for optimal viewing, while TV viewers sit 8 to 12 feet away, affecting perceived content size and clarity. A font size comfortable on a phone may seem tiny on a TV, posing a challenge for user interface design across devices. Environmental factors worsen readability on TVs:

• Bright room lighting: Overhead lights or sunlight can cause glare, reducing text and image visibility.

• Reflections: Reflections from surroundings can obscure content and distract viewers.

• Low-quality or older TVs: Older or lower-resolution TVs may display pixelated and blurry images.

• Compressed streamed UI layers: Compression during streaming can degrade UI quality, causing blurriness.

These factors can make a clear mobile interface appear blurry or illegible on a TV. Designers must consider viewing distance, screen size, resolution, and conditions to ensure effective user interaction across platforms.

Size text for actual viewing distance

TV text needs to be larger than you think, especially for labels, menus, and metadata. Amazon TV have 10-foot-UI guidelines that include text size recommendations, of 28px minimum when viewed on a 1080p screen; however, it does not take any degree of vision loss into account, use 28px as a minimum rather than a target, aim to exceed it wherever possible.

General safe ranges:

• Body text: 28–36 px

• Menu items: 32–44 px

• Titles: 48–80 px

• Subtitles & captions: 55–75 px (varies by OS, often user-controlled)

And remember: different TV OSes handle scaling differently. Roku, for example, renders text differently than Apple TV or Tizen.

Best practice: Design and prototype with a 10-foot preview—whether that’s a real TV, simulated view in Figma, or a remote-device preview.

Increase contrast—far beyond WCAG minimums

On TV, just hitting a WCAG 4.5:1 contrast ratio often isn't enough to make sure content is easy to see and read. This is especially true in places where the viewing conditions change a lot, and where the display tech quality really affects the user experience.

Why is this happening?

• Many new TVs have strong image processing features that aim to make pictures look more vibrant and dynamic. But sometimes, this means losing details in darker parts of the picture, which can mess with how well you can see text and other key elements.

• Dynamic backlighting systems try to boost contrast by changing brightness based on what's on the screen. However, they can sometimes squash midtones, making it tough to tell different shades apart, especially in text or graphics that need those midtones to be clear.

• Motion smoothing features, meant to cut down on motion blur in fast scenes, can accidentally make static images or text look less sharp. This can make things look soft or blurry, hurting the readability of on-screen content.

• When UI elements get compressed, they can lose their sharp edges, making it tough to focus on them. This is a big issue for smaller text or icons, which might blend into busy backgrounds.

• Plus, the glow from the room can really lower the perceived contrast on the screen. Ambient lighting can wash out colors and lessen the impact of contrast ratios, so it's important to think about lighting when checking visibility.

Given these issues, it's smart to aim for:

• 7:1 or higher contrast ratio for text. This higher ratio helps text stay readable against different backgrounds, even in not-so-great viewing conditions.

• 10:1 or higher for small UI elements. Small text and icons need even more contrast to be easily seen and used, especially for people with visual impairments.

• Avoid using thin, lightweight fonts on bright or complex backgrounds, as this can make visibility worse. Choosing bolder fonts can improve readability and make sure text pops out.

If your design needs background images, here are some ways to keep things visible:

• Use darkening overlays to lower the brightness of the background image, helping text stand out better. This keeps the text readable without losing the image's visual appeal.

• Scrims, or semi-transparent layers over the background, can help mute distracting elements and boost text visibility. This is handy for busy or colorful images.

• Blur layers can also help by softening the background image, reducing visual noise and letting the text take center stage. This creates a more focused and readable interface.

• Adding solid-color plates behind text can create a clear contrast that improves readability, no matter how complex the background is. This is great for making sure important info is easy for everyone to access.

Ultimately, your users shouldn't have to guess where to look or struggle to read what's on the screen. By focusing on contrast ratios and using smart design strategies, you can create a more inclusive and user-friendly experience for a wide range of visual abilities and viewing conditions.

Avoid low-resolution text rendering

Some platforms—especially legacy or budget TVs—render text using older GPU pipelines. This means:

• anti-aliasing is inconsistent

• thin strokes disappear

• semi-transparent edges look fuzzy

• white text blooms on bright panels

Solutions:

• Use medium to bold weights

• Avoid ultra-thin fonts and light weights

• Test on the lowest-quality device you support—not just your 4K OLED demo unit

• Use vector or system text where possible (images with text often degrade)

Give text space to breathe

Dense layouts might look clean on desktop, but on TV they quickly turn into visual noise.

Improve readability by:

• Increasing line height (150–170%)

• Adding letter spacing to uppercase labels

• Using high-contrast focus states with clear outlines

• Avoiding long paragraphs—break text into scannable chunks

Your UI should look legible from across the room, not just from your desk.

Test in real living-room conditions

Nothing replaces real-world testing.

Simulate:

• A bright sunlit room

• A dim home-theatre environment

• A budget 1080p TV in “Vivid” mode

• Older devices with lower GPU rendering quality

Ask users:

• “Can you read this title from where you’d normally sit?”

• “Which items feel too small or too light?”

• “Where did your eyes go first?”

Even better: Use remote testing tools to observe how the UI performs over real streaming networks—the compression alone may change your design decisions.

Design for reality, not for your monitor

When designers see their UI on a real TV for the first time, one phrase usually comes out: “Oh wow… everything looks smaller than I expected.” That’s normal. The fix is straightforward: bigger text, higher contrast, better spacing, and real-world testing. Build these into your design and QA cycles and you’ll reduce support tickets, improve accessibility, and create an experience that feels “effortless” for users—no squinting required.