How to Change Card Shape in Power BI

Wishing you could break away from the default rectangular cards in your Power BI reports? You're not alone. While standard cards are functional, custom shapes can make your key metrics stand out, improve visual appeal, and align the dashboard with your brand’s design. This tutorial will walk you through several methods to change the shape of your cards, from creating simple rounded corners to designing fully custom circular KPIs.

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Why Bother with Custom Card Shapes?

Before we jump into the "how," let's quickly cover the "why." The default Power BI look is clean and professional, but a little customization can go a long way. Changing card shapes can transform your dashboard from a standard report into a compelling, intuitive interface.

• Improved Visual Hierarchy: Custom shapes can draw the user's eye directly to your most important metrics, like total sales, new users, or conversion rates. By making these KPIs visually distinct, you create a natural focal point on the report.
• Better User Experience (UX): Soft edges, like rounded corners, are often perceived as more approachable and modern than sharp angles. Tailoring your visuals makes the entire dashboard feel more polished and user-friendly.
• Brand Consistency: If your company’s brand guidelines use specific shapes or rounded elements, incorporating them into your dashboards creates a seamless and professional look that aligns with other company materials.

In short, a little design effort builds confidence in the data and makes your insights more engaging for your audience.

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Method 1: Using Power BI's Built-in Formatting for Rounded Corners

The simplest way to soften the look of your cards is by using the built-in formatting options. In recent Power BI updates, Microsoft has added more control over visual elements, including the ability to round the corners of almost any visual.

This is the perfect approach if you just want to get rid of the sharp 90-degree angles and don't need a completely different shape like a circle or star. Let's walk through it step-by-step.

Step-by-Step Guide to Rounding Corners

1. Add a Card Visual: First, add a standard 'Card' visual to your report canvas. You can find this in the 'Visualizations' pane. Drag a field or measure you want to display, like 'Total Sales' or 'Website Sessions,' onto the card.
2. Open the Formatting Pane: Select the card visual on your canvas. The 'Visualizations' pane will now show formatting options. Click on the paintbrush icon labeled 'Format your visual' to open the settings.
3. Navigate to Visual Border Effects: In the formatting pane, make sure the 'Visual' tab is selected. Turn on the Visual border.
4. Adjust the Rounded Corners: Once the border is enabled, you'll see a 'Rounded corners' slider appear. You can enter a pixel value to control the amount of curvature. A value of 10-15px usually gives a subtle, modern feel, while a higher value will create a more pronounced curve. Play around with the number until you achieve the look you want.
5. Finalize the Look: You can also adjust the border color and thickness in this same section to match your dashboard's theme. For a more 'floating' card effect, navigate to the 'General' tab, go to 'Effects,' and turn on the Shadow. This little touch adds depth and makes the card pop off the background.

This method is fantastic because it's quick, easy, and keeps the object as a single, manageable visual. It's the most efficient way to start updating your design.

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Method 2: Layering Visuals for Completely Custom Shapes

What if you want something more than just rounded corners? What if you're aiming for a circle, a pill shape, or something more unique? For that, we need to get a little more creative by layering visuals. The core idea is to use one visual to create the shape and then layer a transparent card with your data on top of it.

This technique opens up a world of design possibilities. Let's create a "pill" shaped card using a button and a circular KPI using a shape.

How to Create a Pill-Shaped Card

Buttons in Power BI have incredibly flexible shaping options, making them the perfect candidate for this job.

1. Insert a Blank Button: From the 'Insert' ribbon at the top, select 'Buttons' and choose a 'Blank' button. Place it on your canvas.
2. Format the Button Shape: Select the button and go to the 'Format' pane. Under the 'Button' settings, expand the 'Shape' section. Here you can change the shape to 'Pill' or keep it as a 'Rectangle' and use the 'Rounded corners' slider to create the exact curve you desire. Set it to a high value like 20px or more to get that elongated look.
3. Style the Button Background: In the same format pane, navigate to 'Style' and 'Fill'. Choose the background color for your card here. Then, find the 'Icon,' 'Text,' and 'Border' sections and make sure they are turned off so you have a clean slate.
4. Add and Format Your Card Visual: Now, add a standard Card visual onto the canvas. Go to its formatting options, select the 'General' tab, click on 'Effects,' and turn the Background OFF. This makes the card itself fully transparent.
5. Layer and Group: Adjust the text color of your transparent card to ensure it's readable against the button color you chose. Drag the transparent card directly over your formatted button. Resize it until it fits perfectly. To make them a single object, hold the CTRL key, select both the button and the card visual, then right-click and choose "Group" > "Group".

You now have a single, grouped visual that looks like one cohesive card! You can move it, resize it, and duplicate it just like any other element on your dashboard.

How to Make a Circular KPI Card

The process for creating a circular card is nearly identical, but instead of using a button for the background, we'll use a shape.

1. Insert an Oval Shape: In the 'Insert' ribbon, choose 'Shapes' and select the 'Oval.'
2. Make it a Perfect Circle: By default, the oval is an ellipse. To make it a perfect circle, select it, go to the 'Format' pane, open 'General' > 'Properties,' and set the 'Height' and 'Width' to the same value (e.g., 150px by 150px).
3. Style the Circle: Under the 'Shape' tab, navigate to the 'Style' options, click "Fill" and choose your desired background color. Make sure the border is either turned off or styled to your liking.
4. Add Your Transparent Card: Just like with the button method, add a new Card visual, and in its 'Format' settings, go to 'General' > 'Effects' and toggle the 'Background' OFF.
5. Combine and Group: Now, align your transparent card over the circle. You'll need to resize the card carefully so the text fits nicely in the center of the circle. Once you're happy with the placement, CTRL-click both the circle and the card, right-click, and select "Group" > "Group".

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Tips for Designing with Custom Shapes

Now that you know how to create custom card shapes, here are a few design tips to ensure your reports look professional and remain easy to read.

• Maintain Consistency: Stick to one or two custom shapes throughout your report. Using circles for KPIs and rounded rectangles for secondary metrics can create a clear and consistent visual language. Too many different shapes will make your dashboard feel cluttered.
• Prioritize Readability: The primary goal of any data visualization is clarity. Ensure the font color on your cards has a strong contrast with your custom background shape. If your circle is dark blue, use white text. Test your report in different lighting conditions to catch any readability issues.
• Use Alignment Tools: Power BI’s alignment tools are your best friend when layering objects. After grouping your visuals, select multiple groups and use the 'Format' > 'Align' tools (e.g., Align top, Distribute horizontally) to ensure perfect spacing and symmetry on your report page.
• Don't Overdo It: Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Custom shapes are best used to highlight the most critical information. Keep standard visuals for detailed charts and tables, and reserve your unique designs for high-level summary statistics.

Final Thoughts

As you've seen, Power BI gives you several ways to move beyond the default rectangular card. Whether you use the simple built-in settings for rounding corners or the more advanced layering technique for creating complex shapes, you now have the tools to build dashboards that are not only insightful but also visually stunning and user-friendly.

Spending time manually tweaking every visual to get your dashboard just right can be time-consuming, especially when managing multiple reports. At Graphed, we believe you should be able to get professional, real-time dashboards in seconds. By connecting your data sources and describing what you want to see in simple language, you can build entire dashboards - complete KPIs, charts, and all - while you focus on acting on the insights, not on the formatting.