Themes Skill

This skill helps create Power BI report themes for consistent visual styling and branding.

When to Use This Skill

Creating custom color palettes
Setting default fonts and sizes
Applying corporate branding
Configuring visual defaults
Creating dark/light mode themes
Standardizing conditional formatting

Theme File Basics

File Format

Themes are JSON files with .json extension. They can be:

Imported into Power BI Desktop (View > Themes > Browse for themes)
Embedded in PBIR reports
Shared across an organization

Basic Structure

{
  "name": "Custom Theme",
  "dataColors": ["#118DFF", "#12239E", "#E66C37", "#6B007B", "#E044A7", "#744EC2"],
  "background": "#FFFFFF",
  "foreground": "#252423",
  "tableAccent": "#118DFF"
}

Theme Properties

Core Colors

Property	Description
`dataColors`	Array of colors for data series
`background`	Default background color
`foreground`	Default text color
`tableAccent`	Accent color for tables/matrices
`hyperlink`	Link color
`good`	Positive/good indicator
`neutral`	Neutral indicator
`bad`	Negative/bad indicator

Typography

{
  "textClasses": {
    "label": {
      "fontFace": "Segoe UI",
      "fontSize": 12,
      "color": "#252423"
    },
    "title": {
      "fontFace": "Segoe UI Semibold",
      "fontSize": 14,
      "color": "#252423"
    },
    "header": {
      "fontFace": "Segoe UI Semibold",
      "fontSize": 12,
      "color": "#252423"
    },
    "callout": {
      "fontFace": "Segoe UI Light",
      "fontSize": 28,
      "color": "#252423"
    },
    "largeTitle": {
      "fontFace": "Segoe UI Light",
      "fontSize": 40,
      "color": "#252423"
    }
  }
}

Text Classes

Class	Used For
`label`	Data labels, axis labels
`title`	Visual titles
`header`	Table/matrix headers
`callout`	Card values, KPI values
`largeTitle`	Large display values

Complete Theme Structure

{
  "name": "Corporate Theme",
  "dataColors": [
    "#0078D4",
    "#00BCF2",
    "#00B294",
    "#FFB900",
    "#E81123",
    "#5C2D91",
    "#B4009E",
    "#107C10"
  ],
  "background": "#FFFFFF",
  "foreground": "#323130",
  "tableAccent": "#0078D4",
  "hyperlink": "#0078D4",
  "good": "#107C10",
  "neutral": "#FFB900",
  "bad": "#E81123",
  "maximum": "#107C10",
  "center": "#FFB900",
  "minimum": "#E81123",
  "textClasses": {
    "label": {
      "fontFace": "Segoe UI",
      "fontSize": 11,
      "color": "#605E5C"
    },
    "title": {
      "fontFace": "Segoe UI Semibold",
      "fontSize": 14,
      "color": "#323130"
    },
    "header": {
      "fontFace": "Segoe UI Semibold",
      "fontSize": 12,
      "color": "#323130"
    },
    "callout": {
      "fontFace": "Segoe UI",
      "fontSize": 28,
      "color": "#323130"
    }
  },
  "visualStyles": {
    "*": {
      "*": {
        "background": [{
          "color": { "solid": { "color": "#FFFFFF" } },
          "transparency": 0
        }],
        "border": [{
          "show": false
        }],
        "dropShadow": [{
          "show": false
        }]
      }
    }
  }
}

Visual Styles

Structure

{
  "visualStyles": {
    "<visualType>": {
      "<propertyGroup>": {
        "<property>": [{ <settings> }]
      }
    }
  }
}

Wildcards

Wildcard	Meaning
`"*"`	All visuals / all properties

Common Visual Types

Type	Description
`"*"`	All visuals
`"page"`	Report page
`"card"`	Card visual
`"multiRowCard"`	Multi-row card
`"columnChart"`	Column chart
`"barChart"`	Bar chart
`"lineChart"`	Line chart
`"pieChart"`	Pie chart
`"donutChart"`	Donut chart
`"tableEx"`	Table
`"pivotTable"`	Matrix
`"slicer"`	Slicer
`"kpi"`	KPI visual
`"gauge"`	Gauge
`"map"`	Map
`"shape"`	Shape
`"textbox"`	Text box

Common Property Groups

Group	Properties
`background`	Visual background
`border`	Visual border
`dropShadow`	Shadow effect
`title`	Visual title
`subTitle`	Subtitle
`legend`	Legend settings
`categoryAxis`	X-axis
`valueAxis`	Y-axis
`labels`	Data labels
`dataPoint`	Data point colors

Setting Defaults for All Visuals

{
  "visualStyles": {
    "*": {
      "*": {
        "background": [{
          "color": { "solid": { "color": "#FFFFFF" } },
          "transparency": 0
        }],
        "border": [{
          "show": true,
          "color": { "solid": { "color": "#E0E0E0" } },
          "radius": 5
        }],
        "dropShadow": [{
          "show": true,
          "color": { "solid": { "color": "#000000" } },
          "position": "Outer",
          "preset": "BottomRight",
          "transparency": 80
        }],
        "title": [{
          "show": true,
          "fontColor": { "solid": { "color": "#252423" } },
          "fontSize": 14,
          "fontFamily": "Segoe UI Semibold",
          "alignment": "left"
        }]
      }
    }
  }
}

Card Visual Styling

{
  "visualStyles": {
    "card": {
      "*": {
        "labels": [{
          "color": { "solid": { "color": "#0078D4" } },
          "fontSize": 32
        }],
        "categoryLabels": [{
          "show": true,
          "color": { "solid": { "color": "#605E5C" } },
          "fontSize": 12
        }],
        "background": [{
          "color": { "solid": { "color": "#F3F2F1" } }
        }]
      }
    }
  }
}

Chart Styling

{
  "visualStyles": {
    "columnChart": {
      "*": {
        "categoryAxis": [{
          "show": true,
          "labelColor": { "solid": { "color": "#605E5C" } },
          "fontSize": 11,
          "gridlineShow": false
        }],
        "valueAxis": [{
          "show": true,
          "labelColor": { "solid": { "color": "#605E5C" } },
          "fontSize": 11,
          "gridlineShow": true,
          "gridlineColor": { "solid": { "color": "#E0E0E0" } }
        }],
        "legend": [{
          "show": true,
          "position": "Top",
          "fontSize": 11,
          "fontColor": { "solid": { "color": "#605E5C" } }
        }],
        "labels": [{
          "show": false
        }]
      }
    }
  }
}

Table Styling

{
  "visualStyles": {
    "tableEx": {
      "*": {
        "grid": [{
          "gridVertical": true,
          "gridVerticalColor": { "solid": { "color": "#E0E0E0" } },
          "gridHorizontal": true,
          "gridHorizontalColor": { "solid": { "color": "#E0E0E0" } },
          "rowPadding": 4
        }],
        "columnHeaders": [{
          "fontColor": { "solid": { "color": "#FFFFFF" } },
          "backColor": { "solid": { "color": "#0078D4" } },
          "fontSize": 12,
          "bold": true
        }],
        "values": [{
          "fontColor": { "solid": { "color": "#323130" } },
          "fontSize": 11
        }],
        "total": [{
          "fontColor": { "solid": { "color": "#323130" } },
          "backColor": { "solid": { "color": "#E0E0E0" } },
          "bold": true
        }]
      }
    }
  }
}

Slicer Styling

{
  "visualStyles": {
    "slicer": {
      "*": {
        "header": [{
          "show": true,
          "fontColor": { "solid": { "color": "#252423" } },
          "fontSize": 14
        }],
        "items": [{
          "fontColor": { "solid": { "color": "#323130" } },
          "fontSize": 11
        }],
        "selection": [{
          "selectAllCheckboxEnabled": true,
          "singleSelect": false
        }]
      }
    }
  }
}

Page Background

{
  "visualStyles": {
    "page": {
      "*": {
        "background": [{
          "color": { "solid": { "color": "#F3F2F1" } },
          "transparency": 0
        }],
        "wallpaper": [{
          "color": { "solid": { "color": "#F3F2F1" } }
        }]
      }
    }
  }
}

Color Palettes

Microsoft Default

{
  "dataColors": [
    "#118DFF",
    "#12239E",
    "#E66C37",
    "#6B007B",
    "#E044A7",
    "#744EC2",
    "#D9B300",
    "#D64550"
  ]
}

Corporate Blue

{
  "dataColors": [
    "#0078D4",
    "#00BCF2",
    "#004578",
    "#5C2D91",
    "#B4009E",
    "#008272",
    "#00B294",
    "#002050"
  ]
}

Earth Tones

{
  "dataColors": [
    "#5B5EA6",
    "#9B2335",
    "#00A4CC",
    "#E4712B",
    "#3A4D39",
    "#8B6914",
    "#6B4226",
    "#4A5859"
  ]
}

Colorblind-Friendly

{
  "dataColors": [
    "#000000",
    "#E69F00",
    "#56B4E9",
    "#009E73",
    "#F0E442",
    "#0072B2",
    "#D55E00",
    "#CC79A7"
  ]
}

Dark Theme Colors

{
  "dataColors": [
    "#00BCF2",
    "#00CC6A",
    "#FFB900",
    "#E81123",
    "#B4009E",
    "#10893E",
    "#FF8C00",
    "#6B69D6"
  ],
  "background": "#1E1E1E",
  "foreground": "#FFFFFF",
  "tableAccent": "#00BCF2"
}

Conditional Formatting Colors

Diverging (Bad to Good)

{
  "bad": "#E81123",
  "neutral": "#FFB900",
  "good": "#107C10"
}

Sequential

{
  "minimum": "#FFFFFF",
  "center": "#00BCF2",
  "maximum": "#0078D4"
}

Using Themes in PBIR

Reference in report.json

{
  "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/fabric/item/report/definition/report/1.0.0/schema.json",
  "themeCollection": {
    "baseTheme": {
      "name": "CY24SU06",
      "reportVersionAtImport": "5.55",
      "type": "SharedResources"
    },
    "customTheme": {
      "name": "CustomTheme",
      "reportVersionAtImport": "5.55",
      "type": "Custom"
    }
  }
}

Embed Theme in Report

Store custom theme file in StaticResources/ folder of the report.

Best Practices

Color Guidelines

Use 6-8 data colors - Enough for variety, not overwhelming
Ensure contrast - 4.5:1 minimum for accessibility
Consistent semantics - Red=bad, Green=good across report
Consider colorblindness - Use patterns or labels too

Typography Guidelines

Limit font families - 1-2 maximum
Use system fonts - Segoe UI, Arial for consistency
Establish hierarchy - Titles > Headers > Body
Readable sizes - Minimum 10pt for data labels

Visual Defaults

Remove unnecessary elements - Hide borders, shadows by default
Consistent spacing - Same padding/margins
Align to grid - Use consistent positions
Default titles on - Help users understand visuals

Boundaries and Constraints

DO

Test themes across all visual types
Verify accessibility (contrast ratios)
Document color meanings
Keep color count manageable
Test on different screen sizes

DO NOT

Don't use too many colors (max 8-10)
Avoid low contrast combinations
Don't mix font families excessively
Avoid theme-breaking individual visual formats