Article

Best practices for a Power BI report theme

Timothy Kirk All articles BI Workbench

A useful theme is short, named, and applied before anyone opens a format pane. Contrast has to survive a projector. The palette has to be small enough that two authors pick the same accent. I treat those as rules, not preferences.

What I insist on

A file name that matches the workspace or the product, not Theme1. Contrast checked on light and dark backgrounds. Data colours that still separate when printed or projected.

Apply the theme first. Visual-level colour is the exception, not the method. If every chart overrides the theme, you no longer have a theme.

What I avoid

A dozen accent colours. Low-contrast grey on grey. A theme that only exists inside one .pbix and cannot be exported.

BI Workbench is how I preview a mock page and export theme.json. The preview is there to catch a contrast fault before Desktop.

Questions

What are good Power BI theme practices?

Name the file, keep the palette short, check contrast on a projector, and apply the theme before formatting individual visuals.

When should you override a theme on a visual?

Only as an exception. If every chart overrides the theme, the theme is no longer doing the work.