Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Associate Study Guide

Chapter 9. Report Design Patterns and Techniques

The purpose of this chapter is to enhance your fundamental report design skills with applicable design principles and techniques to create professional, functional, and attractive reports. I have always been fascinated with how information is presented and perceived. I own several books and have attended several presentations and lectures on the topic and have learned many valuable concepts and guidelines that have practical applications for designing reports. Although interesting and enlightening, these presentations always lead me to ask, “What do I do with this information?” My goal is to introduce important design principles and then show you how to apply them.

This chapter is written from the perspective of a report developer who creates reports to be consumed by business users throughout an organization and who may be part of an enterprise solution. If you are designing reports ad hoc for your own needs, the principles in this chapter still apply, but balance them to meet the business needs of your audience.

I’ll start by discussing how your audience and the purpose of your report will shape your design. I’ll look at cognitive perception and how the brain processes information, with a spotlight on design principles that help readers focus on and retain the most important information. The rest of the chapter centers on designing a report page, including navigation and paginated reports.

Audience and Purpose: Balancing Form, ...