I’ve built a functional dashboard, but it looks like a "typical spreadsheet"—gray, boring, and cluttered. What are some design tips to make it look like a modern web application? I'm talking about color palettes, font choices, and how to use white space effectively so my sales managers actually enjoy using it.
3 answers
To move away from the "spreadsheet look," the first step is to go to the View tab and uncheck "Gridlines," "Headings," and the "Formula Bar." This immediately makes it look like a clean canvas. Use a dark sidebar for your navigation links (Slicers) and a light background for your charts to create depth. Stick to a 3-color palette: one neutral gray, one primary brand color (like Navy Blue), and one accent color for alerts (like Coral). Use sans-serif fonts like Segoe UI or Calibri Light for a modern feel. Also, hide all your "Backend" calculation sheets so the user only sees the "Front-end" dashboard.
What about icons? I see some dashboards that have nice little icons for "Sales," "Returns," and "Profit." Do people just paste images, or is there a way to make them dynamic so they change color if a KPI is missed?
Always align your charts to a grid! Even a 5-pixel misalignment makes a dashboard look amateur. Use the "Align" and "Distribute" tools under Page Layout.
So true, Patricia. Alignment is 90% of a good UI. I'd also suggest Amanda limits the number of charts to 5 or 6 per page to avoid cognitive overload.
Gary, most pros use "Insert > Icons" which are SVG files. You can actually use a bit of VBA or Conditional Formatting on "Icon Sets" to change visuals based on values. Another trick is using the "linked picture" feature. You have a "library" of icons on a hidden sheet, and the dashboard displays the icon that matches the current status. Amanda, also consider using "Card" layouts—small boxes with a single big number and a trend line below it. It's the standard look for SaaS dashboards for a reason.