Light Power BI theme

Civic Slate Power BI theme

Accessible light Power BI theme for government and public-sector reports: navy lead, burnt orange and teal series, dark text and plain Segoe UI.

By · Founder & Reliability Engineer · Updated

Free for commercial use
Civic Slate theme applied to the City Service Requests (311) template

Shown on the City Service Requests (311) template.

Power BI Desktop: Design ribbon → Import theme. Power BI service: View → Theme pane.

Design with this theme →

About the palette

Civic Slate is written for public dashboards that must work for everyone: navy #1D4E89 leads, burnt orange #C2571A is the first contrast colour, and teal #2C7A7B third, a blue–orange–teal opening with clear steps in lightness. Text is #111827 at 17.7:1 and muted labels are 7.5:1 on white.

Use it for service-request, permit and training-compliance pages published to residents or staff. The palette avoids brand-like saturation so it sits under a council or agency logo without competing, and its eight series include a neutral slate #5A6B7D for an "Other" category.

Palette profile

Computed from the colours on this page, not written by hand: hue spread, lightness range, contrast and a colour-vision simulation of the first six chart colours.

Best for

  • Clustered and stacked charts with up to six series (6 hue families); add data labels to the pairs listed below.
  • Thin line charts and sparklines on white cards: every chart colour reaches 4.4:1 or more.
  • Variance charts, waterfalls and KPI deltas: good #22713F and bad #B42318 are 138° apart in hue.

Colour-vision simulation

  • Protanopia: series 1 and 4 (#1D4E89, #7A4FA0); series 2 and 5 (#C2571A, #8F6B12)
  • Deuteranopia: series 2 and 5 (#C2571A, #8F6B12); series 3 and 6 (#2C7A7B, #B03060)
  • Give those series data labels or direct labels instead of relying on the legend.
Chart colours
8, in 6 hue families
Lightness range
31–47 %
Text contrast
16.3:1
Muted text
6.9:1
Weakest chart colour
4.4:1 on cards
Near-grey series
1

Colours and contrast

Contrast ratios are measured against the card (surface) colour, where visuals sit. Text needs 4.5:1; graphics need 3:1.

Theme colours and contrast against the card colour
RoleColourContrast on cardCheck
Page background#F4F6F8—base
Card / surface#FFFFFF—base
Text#11182717.74:1AA text
Muted text#4B55637.56:1AA text
Accent#1D4E898.39:1≥ 3:1
Good#22713F6.00:1≥ 3:1
Neutral#9C65004.91:1≥ 3:1
Bad#B423186.57:1≥ 3:1
Data colour 1#1D4E898.39:1≥ 3:1
Data colour 2#C2571A4.49:1≥ 3:1
Data colour 3#2C7A7B5.03:1≥ 3:1
Data colour 4#7A4FA06.08:1≥ 3:1
Data colour 5#8F6B124.91:1≥ 3:1
Data colour 6#B030606.11:1≥ 3:1
Data colour 7#3B6E2F6.07:1≥ 3:1
Data colour 8#5A6B7D5.48:1≥ 3:1

Theme JSON excerpt

The downloaded file also includes text classes, visual styles and slicer, table and card defaults.

civic-slate-theme.json
{
  "name": "Civic Slate",
  "dataColors": [
    "#1D4E89",
    "#C2571A",
    "#2C7A7B",
    "#7A4FA0",
    "#8F6B12",
    "#B03060",
    "#3B6E2F",
    "#5A6B7D"
  ],
  "background": "#F4F6F8",
  "foreground": "#111827",
  "tableAccent": "#1D4E89",
  "good": "#22713F",
  "neutral": "#9C6500",
  "bad": "#B42318"
}

Import this theme in Power BI Desktop

  1. 1

    Download the theme

    Use the Download theme JSON button above. The file is a few kilobytes and contains no images.

  2. 2

    Import the theme

    In Power BI Desktop open the Design ribbon → Import theme and select the file. In the Power BI service use View → Theme pane. Older Desktop builds: View → Themes → Browse for themes.

  3. 3

    Check visual overrides

    Visuals with manually set colours keep them. Use Format → Reset to default on those visuals to pick up the theme.

  4. 4

    Add a matching background

    Open the design studio with Civic Slate selected to build a page background in the same colours.

VizForge AI · custom visuals

Generate a custom visual for this slot

Need a chart Power BI doesn't have? Pick a slot from the sample report above and VizForge AI writes a custom visual (.pbiviz, with TypeScript source) sized to it and drawn in the Civic Slate colours.

Line chart · 776×192 px

1, 2 or 5 credits depending on the brief · 5 free on signup. Sign in or create a free account on the next screen; the brief is saved for 30 minutes.

Brief sent to the generator (you can edit it there)

A Power BI line visual titled "Received vs closed by week". It sits in a 776×192 px slot on a designed report page. Match the report's brand: data colours #1D4E89, #C2571A, #2C7A7B, #7A4FA0, #8F6B12, #B03060; background #FFFFFF; text #111827; font Segoe UI. Transparent visual background so the page design shows through; no visual border. The report uses the Civic Slate Power BI theme.

Templates in this theme

Backgrounds to pair with Civic Slate

Light page backgrounds that sit well under this palette. Each background page has its own theme download, or keep Civic Slate and set the background image on top.

Need a chart Power BI doesn’t ship?

Theme colours apply to custom visuals too. Describe the chart in plain English and VizForge generates it as a .pbiviz with its TypeScript source; in the design studio, the brief for a visual slot carries this palette. See the visual catalog.

Generate a custom visual with AI · starts free →

Questions about this theme

Is the Civic Slate theme accessible?

Yes. Text and muted text meet WCAG AA (4.5:1) on both the page and card colours, and every data and status colour reaches at least 3:1 against the cards. In a colour-vision simulation 4 pairs among the first six chart colours look alike; the palette profile lists them so you can add data labels. The full contrast table is on this page.

Which fonts does the Civic Slate theme use?

It uses Segoe UI Semibold for headings and Segoe UI for body text. All of them are in Power BI's own font list, so the report renders the same in Power BI Desktop and in the Power BI service.

How do I import a theme JSON into Power BI?

In Power BI Desktop go to the Design ribbon → Import theme and select the downloaded .json file; in the Power BI service use View → Theme pane (older Desktop builds: View → Themes → Browse for themes). The data colours, text classes and visual defaults apply to every page of the report.

Which theme JSON schema do these themes use?

They are compiled against the current report theme schema (reportThemeSchema-2.159) and include name, dataColors, background, foreground, tableAccent, good/neutral/bad, textClasses and visualStyles.

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Design a page in Civic Slate

Start the design studio with this palette, lay out your page and export a background, the theme JSON and a PBIP project that all match.

The design studio for Power BI. Free, in your browser, no sign-up.