How to Design a Seamless Instagram Carousel

A carousel that continues as you swipe gets more engagement than a set of separate images, because it invites people to move to the next slide. The way to get that effect is to design one long canvas first and then split it into equal slides.

Canvas size

In Instagram carousels every slide is shown at the first slide's ratio. For the 4:5 portrait ratio, which takes up the most space in the feed, each slide is 1080 × 1350 pixels. Multiply the width by the number of slides:

A carousel can have up to 20 slides, but a shorter story usually works better.

Watch the slide edges

• Don't put text across edges: a word split in two while swiping is hard to read.
• Keep faces and key details away from edges.
• Use bridging elements: a line, shape or photo running across two slides encourages the swipe.
• Treat the first slide as a cover: only the first slide shows in the feed; use a headline or image that makes people curious.

Splitting and posting

Slice the canvas in your design software, or use the Instagram Grid & Carousel Splitter. It splits into 2 to 20 slides and numbers the files in posting order, so you just select them in that order when uploading.

Final check

Before posting, open the slides one by one on a phone and check the transitions at the edges. Small misalignments show up on a phone, not on a big screen.