Using Carousels in UI Design

Most websites and apps include a form of carousels. But are they useful? And how can we integrate them into our UI designs?

Technology has seen impressive development for the past decades, and it is becoming more and more challenging for UI UX designers to find means of attracting new users to websites and apps. One of the design elements that has come up as a response to the demand for more interactive user interfaces and immersive user experiences is the carousel.

So, read more to find out how to use carousels and how to design them.

The carousel is a UI design element that displays sets of elements that users can scroll through. It can be made up of images, videos, texts, or a mix of these. In other words, carousels provide users with additional content, in the context of essential content. This UI design element is based on the principle of capturing user attention no matter what type of content it displays - after all, carousels usually take up between 50% and 90% of the space of a screen. 

Why do we use carousels in UI design?

To understand the purpose of a carousel in UI/UX design, let’s take the example of a website that sells clothes. The carousel can be integrated into the web design by displaying multiple clothing items on the landing page, through which visitors can slide to reveal new outfits. Besides the images, illustrations, or videos of the clothing items, carousels will have specific bullet indicators that let users know that they can switch between slides. 

The rise and progression of app and website design has seen an increase in the need to adjust strategies to fit each and every one of them. Naturally, this has set the tone for the development of multiple types of carousels, which can be integrated into a UI UX design based on the context.

1. Image Carousels

One of the most commonly used types of carousels is the image one. The main reason for its huge popularity in web design is that it suits most website and app layouts. 

2. Video Carousels

Video carousels are great choices when we are looking for a more complex design. They allow us to integrate more complex, immersive design elements which can create a more interesting user experience.

3. Testimonial Sliders

Testimonial sliders have a marketing value because they showcase positive customer journeys. These carousels have an interactive aspect that can increase website engagement.

4. Hover Galleries

This type of carousel provides web pages with a sleek module due to the effortless change between slides whenever a user hovers the cursor over an image. It works best with larger displays due to the powerful bigger images. 

5. 3D Image Carousels

3D Image carousels are one of the most effective strategies for giving a website or an app more dynamism. 

6. Car Sliders

This carousel-type component is meant to showcase related blocks of content to users so they can simultaneously view different content.

There are many advantages of adding carousels to the design of a website or an app, and it is crucial for a UI/UX designer to know when to use them.

• Multiple Items. 

One of the most common cases in which we would create a carousel for a web page is when we have multiple items to display. In this way, we can help users focus on singular elements at a time so they do not get confused. In order to enhance user experience, it is generally advised to introduce between 3 and 5 slides in a carousel, and anything that exceeds 10 slides is excessive and will decrease the chances of users navigating the carousel.

• Item Categories. 

Carousels are implemented for items that are related in one way or another, not for items that do not share common traits. For example, on an e-commerce website, we could include items that are on sale in the same carousel, because they are part of the same category.

• Visual Elements.

When it comes to carousels, they are always used for visual elements - that means, implementing a carousel for non-visual elements such as paragraphs would not be suitable. Carousels are strongly visual elements.

• Improving User Experience. 

Carousels are often implemented in UI UX design with the purpose of enhancing user experience. One instance in which carousels can prompt UX is by making certain aspects of an app or a website more accessible to users, by showing them the highlights of it. 

As UI/UX designers, it is very likely that we will need to interact and design carousels at some point in the course of our careers. This is why it is essential that we are familiar with the methods and design principles we should integrate when dealing with carousel digital design.

• Scalability and Accessibility. 

Carousel items should be visible regardless of the device the user is accessing the page from. In other words, our carousels need to be scalable. Besides this, the images or videos must be adapted to the text so that it is easy to read.

• Call to Action 

A carousel can be a great marketing technique. This is why, we should take advantage and make sure that we include call-to-action buttons where it is appropriate. For instance, a carousel that is integrated with an e-commerce app can include a call to action button that invites users to purchase the items that are displayed. 

• Simplicity. 

They say less is more, and this is usually prevalent in the case of digital design. As UI/UX designers, we need to remember that it is more important to get the message across than just presenting beautiful visuals. Carousels should generally be simple, yet have an impact on the users which determines them to navigate a page. 

• Limits. 

Although they can be helpful and interesting additions, we should avoid overusing carousels per page. It is generally preferred to limit the number of them and only keep the ones that really enhance user experience. 

• Clarity. 

It is important that users can easily distinguish where a carousel begins and ends, as well as how many carousels are we displaying per page. By ensuring that the carousels are clear, we create more intuitive and accessible UI UX designs for our users. 

• Resolution.

An essential part of digital design is related to the resolution of images, animations, and videos. Carousels need to follow the same design principle, and their content needs to have a high resolution, as well as visually appealing graphics. Bad resolution can ruin the user experience and can come off as unprofessional.

We at uinkits understand the importance of inputs in great user experiences and creating amazing UI designs. That’s why we’ve developed a Figma UI Kit with design components that include these essential UI elements that enable you to design intuitive and user-friendly interfaces effortlessly.  

“You press the button, we do the rest,” – Kodak.

Inspired by this iconic tagline from Kodak, we believe in simplifying the design process for you. Our Figma UI Kit, uinkits, is a complete design system with UI components that allows you, as a UI UX designer, to create your products as quickly as pressing a button.

Our design system includes components, icons, variables, cards, buttons, and everything you need for your design process. All you have to do is take your UI design component needed, and you’re ready to use it in your designs!