diff --git a/effects/presentwindows/presentwindows.cpp b/effects/presentwindows/presentwindows.cpp
--- a/effects/presentwindows/presentwindows.cpp
+++ b/effects/presentwindows/presentwindows.cpp
@@ -357,7 +357,9 @@
         mask |= PAINT_WINDOW_LANCZOS;
         // Apply opacity and brightness
         data.multiplyOpacity(winData->opacity);
-        data.multiplyBrightness(interpolate(0.40, 1.0, winData->highlight));
+        if (w->isDesktop()) {
+            data.multiplyBrightness(0.6);
+        }
 
         if (m_motionManager.isManaging(w)) {
             if (w->isDesktop()) {
@@ -427,7 +429,7 @@
             }
             if (m_showCaptions) {
                 QPoint point(rect.x() + rect.width() / 2,
-                             rect.y() + rect.height() / 2);
+                             rect.y() + rect.height() + 5);
                 winData->textFrame->setPosition(point);
                 if (effects->compositingType() == KWin::OpenGL2Compositing && data.shader) {
                     const float a = 0.9 * data.opacity() * m_decalOpacity * 0.75;
@@ -1137,7 +1139,7 @@
 
     // Following code is taken from Kompose 0.5.4, src/komposelayout.cpp
 
-    int spacing = 10;
+    int spacing = 35;
     int rows, columns;
     double parentRatio = availRect.width() / (double)availRect.height();
     // Use more columns than rows when parent's width > parent's height