Visualizations and Report Design
A report is judged by how quickly a reader gets the answer. Good design is mostly about choosing less.
Build a visual
In Report view, click a visual type in the Visualizations pane, then drag fields from the Data pane into its wells such as Axis, Legend and Values. Use the Format tab of the pane to change titles, colours and labels.
Choosing a visual
| Question | Visual |
|---|---|
| What is the headline number? | Card |
| How do categories compare? | Bar or column chart |
| How has a value changed over time? | Line or area chart |
| What contributes to a total? | Stacked bar, treemap or waterfall |
| How are two measures related? | Scatter chart |
| Where is it happening? | Map or filled map |
| What are the exact values? | Table or matrix |
| How close are we to a target? | KPI or gauge |
| What drives a number? | Decomposition tree or key influencers |
A matrix is the Power BI equivalent of an Excel PivotTable, with rows, columns and expandable levels.
Layout
- Top-left first. Most readers start there. Put the most important number there.
- Headline numbers across the top as cards, trends in the middle, detail at the bottom.
- One page, one subject. A sales overview page and a product detail page are better than one crowded page.
- Align and space evenly. Use Format > Align and the gridlines under View.
- Limit a page to about six to eight visuals. Each extra visual competes for attention and slows the page.
Colour and text
- Use one main colour and a contrasting colour only to draw attention.
- Do not use colour as the only way to convey meaning, since some readers cannot distinguish red from green. Add labels or icons.
- Give every visual a title that says what it shows.
- Set display units to thousands or millions and limit decimal places.
- Choose a theme under View > Themes to apply consistent colours and fonts.
Conditional formatting
In a table or matrix, select a value field, open its menu and choose Conditional formatting to add background colours, data bars or icons based on the value or on a measure.
Things to avoid
- Pie charts with more than a few slices.
- 3-D effects and decorative images.
- Axes on bar and column charts that do not start at zero.
- Two different scales on the same chart unless clearly labelled.
- Visuals that need a paragraph to explain.
Accessibility
Add alt text to each visual in the Format pane, set the tab order under View > Selection, and check that text has enough contrast with its background. A report that works with a keyboard and a screen reader is easier for everyone to use.
Mobile layout
View > Mobile layout lets you arrange the same visuals for a phone screen without changing the desktop page.
Practice
Take a page with ten visuals and reduce it to six. Write down which questions you kept and why.