diff --git a/tl/resources/public/css/app.css b/tl/resources/public/css/app.css
index 722c835..712b326 100644
--- a/tl/resources/public/css/app.css
+++ b/tl/resources/public/css/app.css
@@ -110,13 +110,26 @@ body { overflow: hidden; background: var(--desktop); background-size: 2px 2px;
 .ann {
   position: relative;
   padding: 8px 10px; margin-bottom: 8px; border-radius: 0;
-  border: 1px solid var(--ink); background: var(--paper);
+  border: 1px solid var(--ink);
+  border-left: 6px solid var(--ann-color, var(--ink));
+  background: var(--paper);
+  transition: box-shadow .12s ease, border-left-width .12s ease, background .12s ease;
 }
-.ann.active { box-shadow: 2px 2px 0 var(--ink); }
+/* the active annotation (playhead inside it) is loud: thick colour spine, a
+   wash of its own colour, a hard offset shadow, and a bold title. */
+.ann.active {
+  border-left-width: 14px;
+  background: color-mix(in srgb, var(--ann-color, var(--ink)) 16%, var(--paper));
+  box-shadow: 4px 4px 0 var(--ann-color, var(--ink));
+}
+.ann.active .ann-title { font-weight: bold; }
 .ann-head { display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: space-between;
             gap: 8px; margin-bottom: 4px; }
-.ann-title { font-family: var(--chicago); font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.15;
+.ann-title { display: flex; align-items: center; gap: 6px;
+             font-family: var(--chicago); font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.15;
              color: var(--ink); }
+.ann-swatch { flex-shrink: 0; width: 12px; height: 12px; border-radius: 0;
+              border: 1px solid var(--ink); background: var(--ann-color, var(--ink)); }
 .ann-empty { color: var(--mute); font-size: 12px; }
 
 .jump-btn { flex-shrink: 0; padding: 1px 7px; font-size: 10px; white-space: nowrap; }
@@ -357,14 +370,16 @@ html.dark .timeline-head {
   background-size: cover; background-position: center;
   opacity: 1;
 }
+/* a solid label chip pinned top-left — readable over any thumbnail (the old
+   black-text-with-white-halo muddied over busy frames), shrinks to its text so
+   the rest of the thumbnail stays visible. */
 .clip-name {
-  position: relative; z-index: 1; height: 100%; box-sizing: border-box;
-  padding: 0 4px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; line-height: 1.8;
-  color: var(--ink);                                 /* white halo keeps black text
-                                                        legible without veiling the
-                                                        full-color thumbnail */
-  text-shadow: 0 0 2px var(--paper), 0 0 2px var(--paper),
-               1px 1px 0 var(--paper), -1px -1px 0 var(--paper);
+  position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; z-index: 1; max-width: 100%;
+  box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0 4px; line-height: 1.5;
+  background: var(--paper); color: var(--ink);
+  border-right: 1px solid var(--ink); border-bottom: 1px solid var(--ink);
+  white-space: nowrap; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis;
+  text-shadow: none;
 }
 
 /* one full-height playhead spanning both the pinned lanes and the scrolling
diff --git a/tl/src/tl/subs.cljs b/tl/src/tl/subs.cljs
index 7ae9a1a..662df82 100644
--- a/tl/src/tl/subs.cljs
+++ b/tl/src/tl/subs.cljs
@@ -106,3 +106,15 @@
    (:id (or (some (fn [a] (when (some (fn [[lo hi]] (<= lo ph hi)) (:bars a)) a)) anns)
             (last (filter #(<= (:start %) ph) anns))
             (first anns)))))
+
+;; every annotation the playhead is currently inside (overlapping marks ⇒ more
+;; than one). Falls back to the single ::active-annotation when between marks so
+;; there's always one highlighted.
+(rf/reg-sub
+ ::active-annotations
+ :<- [::annotations] :<- [::playhead] :<- [::active-annotation]
+ (fn [[anns ph fallback] _]
+   (let [inside (into #{} (keep (fn [a] (when (some (fn [[lo hi]] (<= lo ph hi)) (:bars a))
+                                          (:id a)))
+                                anns))]
+     (if (seq inside) inside (when fallback #{fallback})))))
diff --git a/tl/src/tl/views.cljs b/tl/src/tl/views.cljs
index 71ac076..0028b27 100644
--- a/tl/src/tl/views.cljs
+++ b/tl/src/tl/views.cljs
@@ -686,6 +686,7 @@
     (fn []
       (let [anns   @(rf/subscribe [::subs/annotations])
             active @(rf/subscribe [::subs/active-annotation])
+            active-set @(rf/subscribe [::subs/active-annotations])
             authed? @(rf/subscribe [::subs/authed?])
             scene  @(rf/subscribe [::subs/scene])
             ctx    @(rf/subscribe [::subs/context])
@@ -709,10 +710,12 @@
             (for [a anns]
               ^{:key (:id a)}
               [:div.ann {:id (str "ann-" (name (:id a)))
-                         :class (when (= (:id a) active) "active")
-                         :style {:border-left (str "8px solid " (:color a))}}
+                         :class (when (contains? active-set (:id a)) "active")
+                         :style {"--ann-color" (:color a)}}
                [:div.ann-head
-                [:div.ann-title (when (:broken a) [:span {:title (:reason a)} "△ "]) (:name a)
+                [:div.ann-title
+                 [:span.ann-swatch {:style {:background (:color a)}}]
+                 (when (:broken a) [:span {:title (:reason a)} "△ "]) (:name a)
                  (when (seq (:script a)) [:span.script-badge {:title "linked to script"} "¶"])]
                 [:div.ann-actions
                  [jump-control open a scene segs]