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Creating Custom Themes in Power BI

Posted on by Zubair Shaik

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Creating Custom Themes in Power BI

Power BI offers an extensive set of built-in themes to customize the appearance of your reports. However, for a more branded, personalized, or specific look, you can create your custom theme. A custom theme allows you to adjust colors, fonts, and other visual elements consistently across the entire report, aligning it with your company’s branding or personal preferences.

Below are the detailed steps for creating custom themes in Power BI:

1. Understanding Power BI Themes

  • Power BI themes define the visual style of your reports and dashboards. They specify colors, fonts, data labels, background colors, and other visual components that make up your report’s appearance.
  • Custom themes allow you to set specific color palettes, font styles, and other preferences that match your business’s branding or your preferred aesthetic.

Power BI supports JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) files to define themes. These files contain all the rules for colors, visual properties, and formatting that you want to apply throughout the report.

2. Predefined Themes vs Custom Themes

  • Predefined Themes: Power BI provides several built-in themes that apply predefined colors and styles to your reports.
  • Custom Themes: You can customize your report’s colors, font styles, and other elements, then save them as a custom theme. Power BI allows you to modify an existing theme or create one from scratch using a JSON file.

3. Creating a Custom Theme Using JSON

  • Structure of a JSON Theme File: A JSON theme file typically contains the following structure: { "name": "Custom Theme", "dataColors": ["#FF5733", "#33FF57", "#3357FF", "#FFD700"], "background": "#F2F2F2", "foreground": "#000000", "tableAccent": "#B5B5B5", "visualStyles": { "title": { "fontFamily": "Arial", "fontSize": 20, "fontWeight": "bold", "color": "#333333" }, "card": { "border": "solid", "borderColor": "#333333", "backgroundColor": "#FFFFFF" } } } In this example:
    • "name" is the name of the theme.
    • "dataColors" specifies the color palette for charts and visuals.
    • "background" defines the background color of the report.
    • "foreground" determines the font color.
    • "visualStyles" can include specific formatting details for individual visual elements (e.g., titles, cards).

4. Setting Up and Customizing JSON Theme

  • Choose Colors:
    • Select the primary and secondary colors for your theme. This includes the main background color, text color, accent colors, and any specific color for graphs, bars, and charts.
    • Example: You can pick colors from your branding guidelines, or use tools like Adobe Color to generate complementary color schemes.
  • Fonts:
    • Customize fonts by setting font families, sizes, and weights. It is important to maintain consistency in font styles across all visuals.
    • Example: Arial, Segoe UI, or custom fonts can be used for consistency.
  • Visual Customization:
    • Customize specific visuals such as titles, backgrounds, and text formats for cards, tables, and other elements.
    • Example: For charts, you can define the color of bars, lines, and data labels.

5. How to Implement the JSON Theme in Power BI

  • Step 1: Prepare the JSON File
    • Write your JSON theme with the required configurations (as mentioned above). You can use any text editor (like Notepad or Visual Studio Code) to create your JSON file.
    • Save the file with a .json extension.
  • Step 2: Apply the Theme in Power BI Desktop
    • Open your report in Power BI Desktop.
    • On the Home ribbon, click on Themes, then choose Browse for Themes.
    • Locate and select the JSON file you created, and then click Open.
  • Your custom theme will now be applied to all visuals in your report.

6. Modifying the Custom Theme

  • If you need to adjust the theme (e.g., update a color or font), modify the JSON file and reapply the theme following the same steps. You can also edit the file and immediately reflect changes in your Power BI report.
  • After reapplying, the new visual settings will automatically be applied to all visuals that use the theme.

7. Advanced Customization in Power BI Themes

  • Custom Visuals Support: Power BI custom visuals can also be styled using the custom theme. In some cases, custom visuals allow you to control theme properties directly within the visual settings.
  • Conditional Formatting: In addition to theme customization, you can use conditional formatting to change colors, font size, or styles dynamically based on values or data in your report.
    • For instance, you can create color scales that depend on numerical values in your dataset, changing the color of bars or columns based on performance.
  • Theme Inheritance: The custom theme affects both default visuals and any custom visuals included in the report, ensuring a consistent design throughout.

8. Saving and Sharing Your Custom Theme

  • After creating and applying a custom theme, you can share the theme file (.json) with others to ensure consistency across different reports within the organization.
  • You can also save the theme as a Power BI template, preserving all the visuals and settings for future use.

9. Best Practices for Creating Custom Themes

  • Maintain Brand Consistency: If you’re creating a custom theme for an organization, ensure it aligns with the company’s branding guidelines (logo colors, font choices, etc.).
  • Use Contrasting Colors: Ensure there’s enough contrast between background and text colors for readability.
  • Minimize Overuse of Bright Colors: Bright, neon-like colors can be overwhelming. Stick to a few vibrant accent colors.
  • Font Readability: Choose fonts and sizes that are easy to read across different screen sizes.
  • Test Across Devices: Power BI reports are often viewed across multiple devices. Test your custom theme on mobile and desktop views.

10. Limitations of Custom Themes

  • Limited Visual Style Controls: Power BI’s theme customizations are primarily focused on colors and fonts. Some visuals may have limitations in customization.
  • Custom Visual Support: Not all custom visuals support full theme customization, especially if they are not built with standard Power BI properties in mind.
  • Complexity in Large Reports: For large and complex reports with many visuals, it may take some time to align every visual with the theme.

Conclusion

Creating custom themes in Power BI allows you to personalize and standardize the look and feel of your reports. Through JSON files, you can customize colors, fonts, and visual styles to reflect your brand or personal preferences. By applying the steps outlined above, you can create a consistent design across all reports and ensure that your visuals align with your business’s visual identity. Power BI’s flexible theme system provides significant customization, and when used effectively, it can enhance both the aesthetics and functionality of your reports.

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