How to Customize Your Designs

Carousel Studio gives you full control over the look and feel of your carousels. After the AI generates your slides, you can customize every visual element — from layouts and themes to fonts, colours, and backgrounds. This guide covers everything you can change and how to do it.

Where to Find the Customize Tab

After generating a carousel, look for the Customize tab in the Carousel Studio panel. This is where all design adjustments happen. The tab is organized into sections that follow a natural design workflow:

Layouts — Choose how content is arranged on each slide
Themes — Apply a pre-built look or create a custom one
Fonts — Pick heading and body fonts
Colours — Set backgrounds, text, and accent colours

You can work through these sections in order, or jump directly to whichever area you want to change. Carousel Studio remembers your choices, so your branding carries over to future carousels.

Choosing a Theme

Themes are pre-designed combinations of fonts, colours, background patterns, and images that give your carousel a cohesive, polished look. Instead of picking every visual element individually, a theme applies a complete visual identity in one click.

Using Pre-built Themes

Open the Customize tab in Carousel Studio
Look for the Theme selector
Browse through the available themes
Click on a theme to apply it instantly — all slides update at once

Carousel Studio offers 20+ themes, each designed by a professional to look great out of the box. Popular options include:

Green — Fresh and natural, good for wellness and lifestyle content
Purple — Creative and modern, works well for tech and personal branding
Blue — Professional and trustworthy, a strong choice for business content
Orange — Energetic and bold, great for action-oriented posts
Pink — Friendly and approachable, popular for coaching and community content
Dark — Sleek and sophisticated, stands out in feeds dominated by light backgrounds

Free users have access to basic themes. PRO users can access all themes, including premium options that use higher-quality design elements.

Creating Custom Themes

If you want a look that matches your specific brand, you can create a custom theme from scratch.

Free Plan: 1 custom theme
PRO Plan: Unlimited custom themes

To create a custom theme:

Select Custom from the theme dropdown
Set your colours (background, text, accents)
Choose your fonts (heading and body)
Optionally set a background pattern or image
Save your theme — it will be available for all future carousels

Custom themes are especially useful if you post carousels regularly and want every post to look consistently on-brand.

Customizing Colours

Colours are one of the most powerful ways to make your carousel recognizable and on-brand. Carousel Studio lets you control colours at several levels.

Background Colours

You have three options for slide backgrounds:

Solid colours — A single colour fills the entire background. Clean and simple, works for most content types.
Gradients — A smooth transition between two colours. Adds visual interest without being distracting.
Patterns — Background images or repeating patterns. Good for adding texture and depth to your slides.

Text Colours

Text colour should contrast well against your background so it's easy to read, especially on mobile devices where screens are small:

On dark backgrounds, use white or light text colours
On light backgrounds, use dark text colours (black, navy, charcoal)
Accent colours can be used for highlighted words, numbers, or key phrases — use your brand colour here for visual consistency

Saving Brand Colours

Once you've chosen your colours, you can save them as brand colours for quick access in future carousels:

Select your preferred colours
Click Save Brand Colours
Your colours will appear in the colour picker whenever you create a new carousel

This feature is available on both Free and PRO plans. It saves time and keeps your content visually consistent across posts.

Choosing Fonts

Typography affects both how your carousel looks and how easy it is to read. Carousel Studio lets you set fonts for two roles:

Heading fonts — Used for slide titles and key phrases. These are typically bolder and larger.
Body fonts — Used for the main text content. These should be clean and readable.

Font Best Practices

Keep it simple — Use 2 fonts maximum (one for headings, one for body text). Using too many fonts makes your carousel look cluttered.
Prioritize readability — Your audience is reading on a phone. Fonts need to be legible at small sizes. Avoid overly decorative or thin fonts for body text.
Match your brand — If your brand uses a specific font family, set it as your heading or body font so your carousels feel consistent with your other content.
Mind the size — Headlines work best at 36-48pt. Body text should be 18-24pt at minimum. If your audience has to zoom in to read, the font is too small.

Custom Fonts (PRO)

PRO users get access to premium fonts and have more options for customizing typography. If you've uploaded custom brand fonts to Canva, you can use those within Carousel Studio as well.

Layout Customization

Layouts determine how text, images, and whitespace are arranged on each slide. Carousel Studio offers multiple layout options for each slide type, so you can find the arrangement that best fits your content.

Text Alignment

Choose how your text is aligned on each slide:

Left-aligned — The most natural reading direction for most languages. Easy to scan and read.
Centre-aligned — Balanced and modern. Works well for short headlines and minimal text.
Right-aligned — Less common, but can be a creative choice for certain design styles.

Spacing and Whitespace

Good spacing makes your slides easier to read and more visually appealing:

Don't overcrowd slides with text — if a slide feels cramped, split the content across two slides
Leave padding around the edges so text doesn't touch the borders
Use whitespace intentionally — it gives the reader's eye a place to rest and makes your content feel more premium

Slide Types and Templates

Carousel Studio generates three types of slides. Each type has multiple layout variations you can choose from.

Intro Slide

The first slide is what your audience sees in their feed before they start swiping. It needs to grab attention and make people want to read more. Layout options include:

Bold headline — A single, large statement that hooks the reader
Question format — Poses a question that the rest of the carousel answers
Statistic or number — Leads with a surprising data point to create curiosity

Body Slides

These are the main content slides that deliver your value. Depending on your content type, you can choose:

Text-focused layouts — Clean text with clear hierarchy, good for tips and explanations
Image + text combinations — Pair a visual with your text for more visual interest
Numbered lists — Automatically numbers each point, ideal for step-by-step content
Bullet point layouts — Organized lists with clear visual separation between points

End Slide (CTA)

The final slide should tell the reader what to do next. Common elements include:

A clear call-to-action (follow, save, share, visit link)
Your name or brand handle
Contact information or social media handles
A prompt to engage (comment, DM, etc.)

Advanced Customization (PRO)

PRO users get access to additional customization features:

AI Images — Generate custom images for your carousels using AI. Great for creating unique visuals that match your content.
Premium themes — Exclusive, professionally designed themes with higher-quality fonts, patterns, and colour palettes
Unlimited custom themes — Save as many branded themes as you need
Remove Carousel Studio branding — Clean exports without any watermark or branding
Premium fonts — Access to a wider selection of fonts
Priority support — Get help faster when you need customization assistance

Design Tips

Stay Consistent

Consistency builds brand recognition. When your audience sees a carousel in their feed, they should instantly know it's yours. Stick to:

The same 2-3 brand colours across all your carousels
The same font pair (heading + body)
Similar spacing and layout choices
A consistent visual style (minimalist, bold, playful, etc.)

Create Visual Hierarchy

Guide your reader's eye through each slide by making the most important element the most prominent:

Main headline — Largest and boldest text on the slide
Supporting text — Medium size, provides context or detail
Fine print / details — Smallest text, used for sources, credits, or secondary info

If everything on a slide is the same size and weight, nothing stands out and the slide becomes harder to read.

Design for Mobile First

The vast majority of Instagram and LinkedIn users browse on their phones. Always design with mobile in mind:

Test how your slides look on a phone screen — text that looks fine on a laptop can be unreadable on mobile
Keep text blocks short — long paragraphs are hard to read on small screens
Make sure there's enough contrast between text and background colours
Avoid putting important content near the very edges of the slide (some platforms crop slightly)

Saving Your Customizations

Once you've customized your carousel:

Preview your design — scroll through all slides to check the flow
Make final adjustments — fix any text, colour, or layout issues
Save your theme — if you created a custom theme, save it for reuse
Export — download your carousel and post it

Your saved themes and brand colours persist across sessions. The next time you generate a carousel, your brand settings are already applied.

Need More Help?

Getting started — Create your first carousel step-by-step
Export and publishing — Download and post your carousel
Learn about pricing plans — Compare Free and PRO features
Contact support

Ready to create? Open Carousel Studio in Canva and start customizing your first carousel today.