Power BI Dashboard Design Video Course

This course is not a Power BI tutorial. It is focused on visualization principles. This course was recorded in 2017. The visuals may look a little outdated, but the concepts are valid as of today. 

Designing dashboards seems like a simple task, thanks to modern BI tools. In reality, designing dashboards that bring value and that people want to use is not that easy. A good dashboard must follow specific rules and design concepts.

The Power BI Dashboard Design video course:

  • Explains how to design beautiful dashboards that people can use every day.
  • Is a high-level reference guide that you can come back to later. Software updates will not impact the concepts that you learn here.
  • Is not just theory; it shows real examples and comparisons between great dashboards and dashboards that are poorly designed.
  • Can help more people than just the designers! Anyone who creates dashboards can benefit from this course. Designers will learn usability tips that many tend to underestimate.

This course is for day-to-day users of Power BI who do not use DAX but create reports by using the Power BI visuals. It is not a fit for people who have never used Power BI, and it does not expose the underlying technical mechanics of a Power BI dashboard.

The video course is divided in four parts:

  • First, an explanation of what a dashboard actually is…
  • Second, a brief introduction to the features of Power BI, as a reminder for users of the tool;
  • Third and most important, the design concepts. We include 15 rules to design a perfect dashboard;
  • Last, the chart reference. Use it to pick the right charts based on the kind of data you have to display.

The course includes several samples and resources, and additional written material to further explain the topics discussed by the teachers.

Students have access to a private discussion area where they can interact with the instructors asking questions related to the lectures and the exercises.

The content of this training was realized by Daniele Perilli.

 

Power BI Visuals Reference

The last section of the course classifies the visuals available in Power BI. This classification is also displayed in a single PDF that you can download for free. You can print or display this document to support your decision in choosing the right visuals for your dashboards.

Collapse allCurriculum

  • Presentation of Power BI Dashboard Design Course

    • Presentation of Power BI Dashboard Design Course
      FREE
    • Slides of the video course
    • Sample Rules
    • Sample Chart Reference
    • Dashboard design checklist
    • The Visuals Reference
    • The 15 Rules Reference
  • What people think a dashboard is and what it really is

    • What people think a dashboard is and what it really is
      FREE
    • What is a dashboard?
      FREE
    • Examples of bad dashboards
      FREE
    • A good dashboard
    • Recap
      FREE
    • Personal Finance dashboard
  • Introducing Power BI

    • Introducing Power BI
      FREE
    • What is Power BI?
    • Power BI in action
    • Are you starting from scratch?
    • Recap
  • The 15 rules to design a perfect dashboard

    • The 15 rules to design a perfect dashboard
      FREE
    • Introduction to rules
      FREE
  • Design for a target

    • Rule 1 - Design for a target
      FREE
    • Explanation and demo
    • Recap
  • Keep everything at a glance

    • Rule 2 - Keep everything at a glance
      FREE
    • Explanation and demo
    • Choosing the right page size
    • Resizing pictures
    • Using charts with hierarchical data
    • Recap
  • Keep it simple

    • Rule 3 - Keep it simple
      FREE
    • Explanation and demo
      FREE
    • All art is quite useless
      FREE
    • Avoiding dark backgrounds
      FREE
    • Recap
      FREE
  • Align elements

    • Rule 4 - Align elements
      FREE
    • Explanation and demo
    • Prototyping with Chart Placeholder by OKViz
    • Recap
  • Be consistent

    • Rule 5 - Be consistent
      FREE
    • Explanation and demo
    • Recap
  • Highlight the most relevant information

    • Rule 6 - Highlight the most relevant information
      FREE
    • Explanation and demo
    • Recap
  • Be clear

    • Rule 7 - Be clear
      FREE
    • Explanation and demo
    • Recap
  • Start from zero

    • Rule 8 - Start from zero
      FREE
    • Explanation and demo
    • Highlighting a change in a time interval
    • Using Dot Plot by OKViz
    • Recap
  • Shorten the numbers

    • Rule 9 - Shorten the numbers
      FREE
    • Explanation and demo
    • Recap
  • Show the context

    • Rule 10 - Show the context
      FREE
    • Explanation and demo
    • Recap
  • Choose the right colors

    • Rule 11 - Choose the right colors
      FREE
    • Explanation and demo
    • Using colors that people can confuse
    • Introducing Color Helper by OKViz
    • Recap
  • Design dashboards, not reports

    • Rule 12 - Design dashboards, not reports
      FREE
    • Explanation and demo
    • Recap
  • Show variations

    • Rule 13 - Show variations
      FREE
    • Explanation and demo
    • Recap
  • Leave the noise off

    • Rule 14 - Leave the noise off
      FREE
    • Explanation and demo
    • Recap
  • Pick the right charts

    • Rule 15 - Pick the right charts
      FREE
    • Explanation and demo
    • Recap
  • In conclusion

    • In conclusion
  • The chart reference

    • The chart reference
      FREE
    • Bar/Column charts
    • Bar/Column: express a trend
    • Bar/Column: sorting
    • Bar/Column: clustered vs. stacked
    • Bar/Column: coloring
    • Bar/Column: intervals
    • Gauge
    • Bullet Chart by OKViz
      FREE
    • Dot Plot by OKViz
    • Radar Chart
    • Line Chart
    • Area Chart
    • Sparkline by OKViz
      FREE
    • Candlestick by OKViz
    • KPI
    • Card with States by OKViz
      FREE
    • Treemap
    • Pie/Donut charts
    • Waterfall Chart
    • Funnel
    • Maps
    • Synoptic Panel by OKViz
      FREE
    • Histogram
    • Box & Whisker
    • Scatter Chart
    • Line & Column charts
    • Infographic Designer
    • 3D charts
    • Other charts
    • Custom visuals
Student Rating
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Student Reviews (145)
  • Jonathan Owney (Dec 3, 2022)

    Over all a very good course and worth the price. The content is anything ground breaking so if you're an experienced dashboard creater you probably don't need this course. I'd love to see a similar course for reports and paginated reports in the future.

  • Dana Haley (Dec 1, 2022)

    Very informative

  • Wilbran Toledo (Oct 13, 2022)

    Excelente material, didactica fenomenal

  • Renee Fehribach (Oct 11, 2022)

    Thanks Alberto and Marco and Team. I enjoyed the video course.

  • Gines Pagan (Aug 15, 2022)

    Thank you very much for this fantastic video course. I have enjoyed it while learning how to design a dashboard with Power BI. Now my concept of dashboard design is totally different. We can follow all the explanations with the downloadable files. Simply .... great! Again, thank you very much.

  • João Teixeira (Jul 11, 2022)

    Excellent Training

  • MD. TANVIR MAHTAB (Jun 4, 2022)

    Very good course for designing dashboards.

  • Andreea Olah (May 15, 2022)

    This course really made a difference in the reports I work with. I changed them by using the rules I learned in this course. It became easier to build the reports and easier to understand and retain key information. The impact was immediate for the users of my reports. Thank you for structuring the information and presenting it in the most possible logic way.

  • Andreas Juretzka (Mar 21, 2022)

    Great course - was really a lot of fun and very interesting

  • Giuliano Pomini (Feb 23, 2022)

    Keep it simple, make it beautiful. I will never forget this rule of thumb. Thanks a lot for all this shared knowledge !!

  • Arun Kumar (Feb 5, 2022)

    Fantabulous course !!!!

  • Santiago Abruzzini (Nov 30, 2021)

    Great course, mostly because is absolutely clear with each rule. However, as I heard in one of the lessons, it has been 4 years since it release? Maybe there are new and better ways to display data with all of the custom visuals. Please don't get me wrong, I truly enjoyed the journey :)

    • Hi Santiago, Thanks so much for taking the time to share your perspective. Among others, the course refers to design principles developed in the early 1900s. If we take a step back to look at the big picture, the principles haven't evolved much on a scale of 4 years. Our focus is really on teaching students how to think in order to make the right decisions for optimal communication through efficient dashboards. While it is fair to say that certain things could be refreshed, the focus isn't on Power BI per se as much as on the principles and the thinking process. Happy to discuss farther if you wish :) Claire
      Reply by Claire Costa (Dec 1, 2021)
  • Darko Zorinc (Nov 22, 2021)

    Very good

  • Tim Bindas (Oct 4, 2021)

    Great content. I'm going to have my engineers and multiple analysts from my organization take this course. Some of the content is a little dated. This could use a facelift to include the new UI and some of the newer out of the box visuals.

  • solarson1989usa (Aug 26, 2021)

    Great content! Hope there is some update on this course - it can talk more about the color theme/ User behavior/design process etc.