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 The visuals may look a little outdated, but the concepts are valid as of today.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
4.7
260 ratings
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4-star Reviews (25 of 140)
  • Steve Sacchetti (Feb 13, 2024)

    It was a very good informative course

  • 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

  • MD. TANVIR MAHTAB (Jun 4, 2022)

    Very good course for designing dashboards.

  • 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.

  • Irshad Kuttoor Illam (Nov 30, 2020)

    Thank you Marco Russo, Alberto Ferrari & Sqlbi team for your efforts. Very nice course for those who are having limited knowledge of designing, choosing proper visuals and presenting data in a better way.

  • Ricardo felippe ramos (Jul 9, 2020)

    This course helped me boost my job in a powerful way. Your directions and tips were great..thanks

  • Robin Neven (May 29, 2020)

    Very nice! Although there is not a lot of practical application, but I guess people can do that with their own dashboards/reports.

  • Jaanis Veinberg (Feb 10, 2020)

    It was okay and perfect for an intro to the application.

  • MICHEL BELLEC (Jan 8, 2020)

    Interesting video courses about the design of a Dashboard. Would be great to add a topic about where to put the slicers into a Dashboard, what is the best place for it ? Vertically or Horizontally ?

  • Joseph Romano (Jan 6, 2020)

    The course had a lot of good examples and suggestions. I, personally, disagree with some of the content and some of the 15 Rules. I would call them 15 Recommendations instead and take them with a grain of salt. (For example, I believe visuals look better when they have borders around them, and I do find gauges to have a valid use when employed sparingly.) Other than that, I had some buffering issues that delayed some of the videoss - but that could likely be an issue on my end and not with the course visuals themselves. Overall, I would recommend this course for someone with no design experience who would like a good foundation from which to start.

  • Relay Research (Dec 16, 2019)

    Great content on data visualization techniques for PowerBI. Appreciated the opportunity to dive into the files. Might've helped to embed more hands-on experience opportunities to learn the 15 rules and data viz concepts within the PowerBI platform.

  • Bert Forbes (Aug 30, 2019)

    Lots of great information. Excellently organised. Good basic ground rules to follow. I'm very pleased to have completed the course!