How To Make a Carousel in Figma

If you’re trying to present a collection of images in a horizontal or vertical cyclic view due to limited space, implementing a carousel is the best approach. In this guide, we will help you with making a carousel through a demonstration to get you covered.

Make a Carousel in Figma

1. Open Figma on your browser and sign in with your credentials. After you have successfully logged in, create a new file using the Design file button.

2. With the design file created, start by adding images you want to add to the carousel by clicking on the Figma icon, followed by File, and then Place image.

3. After the images are added, round the corners, adjust the dimensions, and make necessary changes to match your design requirements.

4. Once the images are ready, add a frame by pressing F or clicking on the Frame icon to find different frames under the Design tab on the right. To present the carousel, we have selected the iPhone, but feel free to choose the frame of your choice.

5. As the frame acts as a base and helps to present the carousel effect, add the images to it, then select the Frame and click on the Clip content check box from the Design tab.

6. If you do it right, the images are clipped inside the frame, and they aren’t displayed on the canvas.

7. With the frame ready featuring the images clipped into it, select it and open the Prototype tab on the right. Next, navigate to the Scroll behavior section and set the Overflow to either Horizontal or Vertical based on your requirements.

8. Now, you have a carousel with free scroll. To check it in action, click on Present.

Here is the demonstration of the basic carousel in action:

Address Spacing Issue

The first thing that can be noticed is the last image doesn’t leave any space at the end and overlaps with the device. Here are steps to address the spacing problem.

1. Start by selecting all images and making them into one frame by right-clicking on the selection, and then from the options, click on Frame selection.

2. After the images are converted to a single frame, drag its border inside the device frame and ensure equal space is left at the start and the end.

3. Now, click on the Prototype tab from the Properties panel and set the Overflow to Horizontal or Vertical.

Here is the result after modifying it to ensure that there is no overlapping between the image frame and the device frame:

Make the Carousel Better

The above demonstration of the carousel is promising, but it lacks a proper scroll effect as the image doesn’t stop at the center. Here are steps to achieve this through interactions:

Note: You need to start from scratch for this approach as these steps aren’t related to the above approaches.  

1. Start by grouping the images by selecting them and pressing Ctrl + G. Next, add the image group to the device frame and ensure the Clip content checkbox is selected for the frame.

2. Once done, repeat the same by duplicating the frame to match the number of images you’re working with and ensuring that each image is added to the center.

3. Now, click on the first device frame and attach it to the second one. To do this, navigate to the Prototype, link the frames, and set On drag, Smart animate, and then Ease out.  

4. Next, repeat the same steps and link each frame by connecting the start and end images of each frame and not the actual frame.

5. If you have done everything right, you will find the final link below.

Here is the demonstration of the carousel with the page scroll effect while addressing the issue of the image not stopping at the center:

Wrapping Up

Congratulations on learning how to make a carousel in Figma!

We have presented two approaches to making a carousel in Figma while identifying and addressing the common issues. While the carousel varies according to the design needs, we believe that the above demonstrations will work as a reference and help you with creating engaging carousels.