Aspects of the technology provide a graphical display on a client device such as a smartwatch or other electronic display device. Content rendered by a non-emissive display element is augmented by an enhancement display element, for instance to change a color or illumination intensity of the content. The enhancement display element may include multiple illumination sources and light pipes that guide light from the light sources to specific regions along the display. Alternatively, the enhancement display element may be a transparent OLED or similar component, for instance to provide per-pixel illumination, highlighting and/or color enhancement to selected content items. In yet another configuration, the enhancement display element has a mask layer and a light element. The mask layer controls the amount of light reaching the non-emissive display element or viewable by a user. Each of these architectures provides rich enhancement to the content items generated by the non-emissive display element.