Create a custom theme

Report Design in Power BI

Jess Ahmet

Content Developer at DataCamp

What are themes?

Standard set of formatting to apply across your report
Enables consistent design without the need to edit each item individually
Colors, icon sets, visual formats, fonts, and sizes
Built-in themes exist, or you can create custom themes

Power BI includes a set of built-in themes but you can customize them as well.

Themes are editable

Theme files are JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)
Can modify everything or just the elements you desire
Example: the theme we have used so far:

{
    "name":"Custom",
    "textClasses": {
        "label":{"fontSize":15},
        "title":{"fontSize":15},
        "header":{"fontSize":15}
    }
}

Themes Gallery

Browse existing themes for inspiration
Download themes and import them into your report

The Themes Gallery allows you to see examples others have created.

¹ https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Themes-Gallery/bd-p/ThemesGallery

Methods for editing themes

Edit in Power BI Desktop with "Customize current theme"
Modify the JSON directly
Use third-party tool

Customize the current theme.

What can we edit?

A ribbon chart:

Some of the customization options for a ribbon chart.

¹ https://github.com/MattRudy/PowerBI-ThemeTemplates

Importing and exporting themes

Import using the "Browse for themes" option.
Export using the "Save current theme" option.

Import and export options for custom themes.

Theme guidance

Fonts

Ensure fonts are large enough and easy to read

Colors

Pick easily distinguishable colors - be sure to check for CVD-friendly color combinations
Don't use too many colors - Power BI needs no more than 8 options
Theme color 1 is your primary color
For light themes, use saturated colors
For dark themes, use lighter tones
The filter pane should be a little different from your background

Let's practice!

Report Design in Power BI