In regard to pagination styles, my broad survey of techniques revealed roughly four common indicator types that could be mapped along a spectrum of engagement. Research suggested that the simpler the indicator was, the less likely a user was to engage or even notice its presence. Furthermore, it revealed that the most effective indicators included either a contextual label or graphic representation of what could be expected after interacting with that thumbnail (or a combination of the two). Understandably, the drawback of a maximal pattern like this is the potential to steal attention away from primary content, so the UI needed further consideration to let the active panel shine on its own with a graceful solution.

Desktop Wireframe

Mobile Wireframe

Ultimately we landed on a minimal bar solution that stayed out of the way from users unlikely to engage with carousel content, but planted strong contextual hints for those showing intent to engage. The bars doubled as slide indicators and progress markers for when autoplay is enabled. Labels for each bar show clear context to what the indicator represents, and hover states were implemented to display an animated thumbnail peeking up with the content to be expected on inactive slides — further enticing users toward taking action.

Accessibility was considered on several fronts. The inclusion of a play/pause button functioned to stop all panel movement, whether it be slide-to-slide transitions of ambient video backgrounds for slide content. Keyboard tab index ensured the first option on the panel to come in focus was to pause button to control motion. Contrast between the UI controls and the imagery beneath it were fine tuned with just the right calibration of darkened scrim, properly vetted to abide by AA compliance with WCAG 2.1 standards, regardless of the background asset chosen by business users.