23. Report and Dashboard Design Principles
23.2 Layout
- Z-pattern / F-pattern: people read from top-left to right, then down. Place the most important KPIs (cards) at the top-left/top row, trends in the middle, details at the bottom.
- Overview → detail: summary page first, then deeper pages (by city, dark store, product, customer), then detail tables via drill through.
- Grid and alignment: use View › Gridlines and Snap to grid; keep equal spacing between visuals; align edges.
- Less is more: roughly 6–8 visuals per page is a practical upper limit for readability (and performance).
- Consistency: same position for slicers and titles on every page; same colour for the same meaning.
- Whitespace: empty space is not wasted – it helps the eye separate groups.
HeaderReport title · date range · logo · navigation buttons | |||
KPI cardTotal Sales | KPI cardTotal Orders | KPI cardAOV (₹) | KPI cardAvg Delivery Time |
TrendLine chart: Sales vs Sales LY by month | ComparisonBar chart: Sales by Category | ||
GeographyMap or bar: Orders by City | DetailMatrix: Dark Stores with KPIs | ||
Figure 23.1 – A simple, effective layout for a sales overview page (slicers can sit in the header or a narrow left panel)
Kagdavar layout aadhi kadhun bagha – mag Power BI madhe banvayla khup vel vachto.
Ravindra Bagale's Tip
Layout madhli ek common chuk mhanje scattering visuals without alignment, so the eye doesn't know where to start. Put the most important KPIs at the top-left, align everything to a grid, and keep consistent gaps. Use View › Gridlines and Snap to grid. Ha niyam lakshat theva.