L24. A five-slide carousel

Create five square images and assemble them into one post on your practice Instagram profile. Allow about 45–60 minutes. You need a computer, an Android phone, an Instagram account, and access to your email. Prepare the images in Canva Free in your browser, then create the post in the Instagram app.

A carousel is one post containing several images that viewers swipe through. Show three actions for a clearer desk using your own text and simple formatting. No paid photographs or templates are needed.

In class

The teacher creates the first slide and duplicates its page. Together, check the canvas size, replace the copied text and inspect the exported image on a phone.

Prepare the exact text

Save these five pairs in Documents\AI-practice\content\carousel.txt. The bold text is the heading; the following sentence explains it.

• Make room for your task. Five slides about a simple desk reset.
• Remove the extras. Put things you will not need today into a box.
• Keep the essentials. For reading, a book, notebook, and pen are enough.
• Give small items a home. Keep them together, beside your working area.
• Check the result. Is there room for your task? Start with one small area.

[[VIS:s24_carousel]]

Make five pages in Canva

• Open canva.com and choose Sign up → Continue with email. Enter your own address, name, and the code from the email. You can use an existing account instead. Stay on the free plan; this lesson does not need a paid trial. [P211][P214]
• On the home page, find Custom size, through Create if necessary. Select px, enter 1080 for both width and height, and choose Create new design. Name it Desk carousel. Pixel dimensions give width and height: 1080 × 1080 is a square. [P212]
• Keep the white background. Under Text, select Add a text box and insert the first heading. Make it dark, bold, and large enough to read; start at size 64. Add a second text box for the explanation, starting at 40. Choose a simple font without a paid-plan label. Leave generous margins and align the text left. [P228]
• Use Duplicate page four times. On each copy, double-click the text and replace it with the next pair in the list. Keep the text boxes in the same positions so readers can follow the sequence. [P229]
• Read every page. If a line does not fit, first widen its box or shorten the wording. Paste the fourth slide’s explanation into the chat and ask: “Shorten to at most eight words, retaining the action.” One possible result is “Group small items beside your working area.” Replace the explanation on the fourth Canva slide with the checked version and confirm that it fits.
• Select Share → Download → PNG → All pages → Download. In File Explorer, create Documents\AI-practice\content\carousel. If a ZIP archive downloads, right-click it, choose Extract All and select this folder. Move any separately downloaded PNGs here too. Check the order of the five files and name them 01.png through 05.png. [P213]

[[VIS:s24_preview]]

Assemble one post on your phone

• Connect the phone by USB with File Transfer enabled. In the computer’s File Explorer, open the phone, create Pictures\DeskCarousel there and copy the five PNGs into it. Open them in its gallery. The text should be readable without zooming. [P210]
• In Instagram, choose + / Create → Post → Select multiple, represented by overlapping squares. Select files 01–05 in order. Selection numbers should appear on their thumbnails. Choose Next, check that all the text fits, then choose Next again. Main menu labels can vary with the app version. [P217]
• Enter this caption: “Three simple actions: remove extras, keep the essentials, and group small items together. I started with space for a book. Which area would you start with?” Check the selected profile. Turn off additional Facebook sharing if offered and unwanted, then select Share.
• Open the post on your profile and swipe through all five slides. With a private profile, approved followers can see the post; it is not available to the whole of Instagram.

> [FIX] If Canva requests payment during export, find and replace the premium element or font. If Instagram shows only one image, check whether you enabled Select multiple before choosing files.

Home practice

• In Canva, create a separate 1080 × 1080 design called Book carousel. Make five pages: a topic, three reading tips and a conclusion.
• Use the same white background and dark text. Give each slide a heading and one explanation readable on a phone.
• Export five PNGs into a new content\carousel-home folder. Open them in order; the sequence should make sense without your commentary. No publication is required.

Self-test

• How many files should you have after extracting the download?
• Why not publish five separate posts?
• The slide is readable on the computer, but its words are tiny on the phone. Will renaming the PNG fix it?

Useful terms

• Carousel: a post containing multiple images.
• PNG: an image format.
• Pixel: an element of a digital image; pixel dimensions describe its width and height.
• Caption: the text beneath a post.