Systems and methods are provided for generating and updating an efficient configuration for display of item images, in order to present the contents of a collection of item images to a user in a space-efficient and visually pleasing manner. For example, an initial configuration can be generated including thin slices of each image. The thin slices can be symmetrically cropped versions of the corresponding image designed to still convey a high degree of detail about the depicted item. When a user interacts with the thin slices, for example, by hovering a cursor or through a touch event, the initial configuration can be updated to gradually expand slices and contract full size images based on the user input.