Power Bi Report Design Consultation

Power BI report design consultation

Guide Power BI report design by gathering business, data, and technical context; selecting visuals by analytical relationship and audience; specifying layout, color, typography, interactions, mobile behavior, accessibility, and validation criteria; and returning an implementation-ready design specification.

When to invoke

• "Design a Power BI dashboard for these KPIs."
• "Which charts should I use in this report?"
• "Review this Power BI layout for accessibility."
• "Create a mobile-friendly Power BI report design."
• "Plan slicers, drill-through, and navigation for this report."

Initial requirements

Chart selection methodology

Avoid dense matrices, complex scatter plots, multi-series area charts, and small multiple visuals on mobile unless the user specifically needs analytical detail.

Audience-specific patterns

Information architecture and visual specifications

Prioritize content in this order: Critical Metrics; Supporting Context; Detailed Analysis; Navigation & Filters.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Header: Title, Key KPIs, Date Range     │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Primary Insight Area                    │
│ ┌─────────────┐  ┌─────────────────────┐│
│ │   Main      │  │   Supporting        ││
│ │   Visual    │  │   Context           ││
│ │             │  │   (2-3 smaller      ││
│ │             │  │    visuals)         ││
│ └─────────────┘  └─────────────────────┘│
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Secondary Analysis (Details/Drill-down) │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Filters & Navigation Controls           │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Accessibility rules: text contrast at least 4.5:1, colorblind-friendly palette, avoid red-green-only distinctions, include pattern or shape alternatives, support high contrast mode, and provide alternative text for screen readers.

Typography hierarchy: Report Title 20-24pt Bold Brand Font; Page Titles 16-18pt Semi-bold Sans-serif; Section Headers 14-16pt Semi-bold; Visual Titles 12-14pt Medium; Data Labels 10-12pt Regular; Footnotes/Captions 9-10pt Light. Use at most two font families, adequate spacing, left-aligned body text, and centered alignment only for titles.

Interaction and responsive design

Mobile-first rules: use portrait orientation, touch-friendly 44px targets, simplified navigation with hamburger menus, stacked layout instead of side-by-side, larger fonts, and increased spacing. Prefer Card visuals for KPIs, simple bar and column charts, line charts with minimal data points, and large gauge/KPI visuals.

Design validation

Implementation plan

Quality assurance covers visual accuracy validation, interaction testing across browsers, mobile device testing, accessibility compliance check, performance validation, and user acceptance testing. Success metrics include engagement/adoption, time to insight, decision-making improvement, satisfaction, and performance benchmarks.

Design vocabulary and non-obvious constraints

Use plain design language the requester recognizes: reports should be user-friendly, data-driven, and able to support drill-down when the audience needs detail. Operational pages may need real-time or near-real-time refresh. Treemaps are space-efficient but can hide small categories. Accessibility requires avoiding red-green only encodings. Slicers need Reset/clear affordances so users can recover from filter states.

Output template

## Power BI design recommendation — <report name>

**Status:** recommended | needs input | blocked
**Audience:** executives | analysts | operators | mixed
**Primary decisions supported:** <decisions>

### Executive summary
- Report purpose: <purpose>
- Design principles: <principles>
- Primary visual selections: <summary>
- Expected user experience outcomes: <outcomes>

### Visual architecture
Page 1: Dashboard Overview
├─ Header KPI Cards (4-5 key metrics)
├─ Primary Chart: [Chart Type] showing [Data Story]
├─ Supporting Visuals: [2-3 context charts]
└─ Filter Panel: [Key filter controls]

Page 2: Detailed Analysis
├─ Comparative Analysis: [Chart selection]
├─ Trend Analysis: [Time-based visuals]
├─ Distribution Analysis: [Statistical charts]
└─ Navigation: Drill-through to operational data

### Interaction design
- Cross-filtering strategy: <strategy>
- Drill-through implementation: <pages and filters>
- Navigation flow: <tabs/buttons/back paths>
- Mobile optimization: <layout and visual substitutions>

### Accessibility and style
| Area | Specification |
| --- | --- |
| Color | <semantic palette and contrast notes> |
| Typography | <title/page/header/label sizes> |
| Keyboard and screen reader | <requirements> |

### Implementation priority
| Phase | Scope | Validation |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Week 1 | <core dashboard> | <checks> |
| Week 2 | <supporting visuals> | <checks> |
| Week 3 | <interactions> | <checks> |
| Week 4 | <mobile and polish> | <checks> |

Quality gate

• Business, data, and technical context were gathered or missing inputs were listed.
• Chart recommendations match the analytical relationship and audience.
• Layout prioritizes KPIs, primary insight, supporting context, details, and filters.
• Color, typography, and interaction specifications include accessibility requirements.
• Mobile behavior is explicitly addressed with 44px touch targets and simplified visuals.
• Validation includes clarity, functional behavior, accessibility, user testing, and performance.
• Implementation phases and success metrics are concrete enough for a Power BI developer to execute.