Deliver Your Big Idea, One Swipe at a Time

SOLO is your weekly design and visibility lab — part of the Solo Business School, and dedicated to helping solopreneurs stand out with smart systems, sharp visuals, and AI that unlocks your edge.

Each week, you get fresh ideas to help you stay small and play big.

Deliver Your Big Idea in a Carousel, One Swipe at a Time

Hey, Reader —

Last week, we laid the foundation for creating compelling LinkedIn carousels. We covered content strategy, structure, and the basics. When I asked what you wanted to learn about carousel design, the message was clear: You want to know how to use visuals effectively while ensuring your message shines on mobile.

Today, we’re exploring exactly that: the visual side of carousels, and how to use design to grab attention and keep people engaged.

Setting up for success

Let’s start with our workspace. For LinkedIn, we’ll use their standard 4:5 carousel format: 1200 × 1500 px. For other platforms, consult Google, like this social media guide.

While Canva offers many templates, I prefer to select and customize elements to create original designs that match your brand. As we begin, let’s revisit the visual principles that make carousels work.

Make your carousel flow like a story

Think of your carousel as a journey.

Make each slide flow smoothly into the next, so viewers keep swiping.

Here’s how to do that:

Choose Your Visual Language

Photos – Best for real-world examples or emotional impact. Try Unsplash, Pixabay, or your own shots.
Icons – Great for abstract ideas or quick visual cues. Try The Noun Project, Icons8, or Google Icons.
Diagrams – Ideal for showing relationships or steps. Create in Miro or explore Napkin.ai.
Typography – Text can be your graphic. Use bold, attention-grabbing fonts. For free options, explore Google Fonts (1800+ open-source choices).

Creating Visual Flow

Use consistent visual elements across slides
Maintain your brand colors (but don’t shy away from contrast)
Use transitions (arrows, dotted lines, fades) to direct attention
Leave enough white space for your message to breathe

Three essential pages

A successful carousel relies on three distinct but interconnected pages that grab attention, deliver value, and drive action. Let’s examine each.

🔵 The cover slide: Halt that scroll
Your first slide needs to work like a mini billboard. It requires:

Strong visual contrast
Clear, bold typography
A visual that supports your intriguing hook
Just enough text to promise value

🔵 Content slides: Keep them swiping
Once you’ve stopped the scroll, your job is to keep attention. These middle slides should deliver value, slide by slide, without overwhelming the viewer.

Break information into scannable sections
Use icons, bullets, or symbols to reinforce key points
Create visual hierarchy through size and placement
Keep mobile tap zones in mind

🔵 The CTA slide: Encourage action
Your final slide signals what you want your viewer to do next, whether that’s engaging, saving, or sharing. Make it easy and obvious.

Use clear directions for your Call To Action (CTA)
Close strong, with a request for a comment, save, or share
Make tap targets obvious
Keep it straightforward but engaging

Think mobile-first design

Research shows that 57% of LinkedIn visits are on a phone (likely higher for other social platforms). This means your design must feature:

Large, legible text (test at arm’s length)
High contrast colors
Clear visual hierarchy
Generous tap targets
Simple layouts for small sizes

Common mistakes

Even strong ideas can fall flat if the design gets in the way. Watch out for these missteps that can weaken your carousel’s impact.

Not enough intrigue in the hook
Inconsistent fonts and colors
Too much text makes it difficult to read
Neglecting pacing — too many ideas per slide
No CTA

Metrics to track

After publishing, keep an eye on these numbers to understand how your carousel is performing and where it’s connecting with your audience.

Impressions — how many views
Comments — responses to your post
Likes — reactions to your post
Reposts — reshares to a reader’s network

Your carousel checklist

Before you hit publish, check that:

✅ Text is scannable and legible on mobile
✅ Visuals reinforce your message
✅ Branding is clear and consistent
✅ Each slide adds value and flows logically
✅ CTA is clear and tappable

Start building your visual library

Success with carousels comes from experimentation and inspiration.

Keep a swipe file of carousel posts that engage you. Screenshot what works, note why, and draw inspiration when building your own.

With each experiment, your eye sharpens — and your carousels become more effective.

Fresh Finds for Creative Minds

Here are three gems this week from around the Web for visual thinkers and solopreneurs:

🔍 What’s That Font?
Fontpair’s Chrome browser extension lets you inspect any webpage and instantly see which colors and fonts are being used. It's great for reverse-engineering sites you love. Plus, their curated Google font pairings make it easy to find looks that work together beautifully.

📊 What Gen Z Really Cares About
Meta’s 2025 Gen Z report, Generation Zeitgeist, breaks down how this generation (which is now about a third of the world’s population) thinks about identity, creativity, and connection. If you're developing products or visual content for younger audiences, this is worthwile reading.

✜ Meet the Woman Behind the Original Mac Icons
Susan Kare rarely gives interviews, but she recently shared the thinking behind her pixel-perfect designs and how simplicity, wit, and clarity shaped the early Apple aesthetic. A treat for visual thinkers and Mac fans.

⭐️ Have an item I should share in this section?
Don’t keep it a secret. Email me with your find!

SOLO Marketplace

Introducing a curated marketplace of solopreneur resources and opportunities, supported by listing fees and hand-picked affiliate partners.

Last Call for WAIM: Build a Calm, Smart, Sustainable Solo Business
WAIM Unlimited (aka Wandering Aimfully) is a beloved business growth system for calm, intentional creators, and it’s opening its doors for lifetime enrollment one last time. This special Past, Present & Future edition includes lifetime access to their full coaching library, powerful AI-assisted tools, and their new Calm Launch Formula to help you grow without burnout. Plus, you get lifetime access to their online course platform, Teachery (host of the Solo Business School), and future apps they plan to develop in the next two years. All this comes bundled for one price that you can pay monthly without additional fees.

If you’ve ever considered joining Jason and Caroline Zook’s world of un-boring business and launching digital products or courses, this is the time. Enrollment closes June 24.
👉 Check out details on WAIM’s Final Enrollment here

News about programs and resources at the Solo Business School:

🔵 Content Velocity: Now at your pace, on your schedule
The live version was a hit, and now Content Velocity is available anytime. In just a few focused hours, you’ll learn how to team up with AI to create clear, consistent content that sounds like you. Build a system you can actually stick with, and shave 10+ hours/week off your content creation.

🔵 Inside my Solo Business Toolkit
Curious about what I use to run my one-person business? I’ve collected my favorite tools, platforms, and gear into a single, easy-to-browse hub. These resources are all handpicked to help you streamline, simplify, and stand out. Come browse.

🔵 Visualize your business with the Solo Business Canvas
This free tool gives you a bird’s-eye view of your solo business, all on a single page. It helps you connect the dots, clarify your direction, and build a business that works the way you do. Download your copy, follow the simple tutorial, and start mapping your solo business success.