Light Power BI theme

Retro Diner Power BI theme

Playful light Power BI theme: diner red and teal on a cream page, orange, midnight and mustard series, Trebuchet headings for restaurant pages.

By · Founder & Reliability Engineer · Updated

Free for commercial use
Retro Diner theme applied to the Restaurant Performance template

Shown on the Restaurant Performance template.

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

Design with this theme →

About the palette

Retro Diner pairs a diner red #D7263D with a teal #1E8668 on a cream page #FFF9EE, then orange #D77E1A and midnight #2F2542. Trebuchet MS headings complete the 1950s-menu feel for restaurant and customer-service reports.

Because red is both the lead and the bad colour, KPI cards should rely on arrows or labels as well as colour. Mustard #9E8400 and cornflower #4C86C6 add range for menu categories. Text is #1E1715 at 17.6:1.

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 (7 hue families); add data labels to the pairs listed below.
  • Thin line charts and sparklines on white cards: every chart colour reaches 3:1 or more.
  • Variance charts, waterfalls and KPI deltas: good #1E8668 and bad #D7263D are 170° apart in hue.

Colour-vision simulation

  • Deuteranopia: series 1 and 6 (#D7263D, #5B8C5A)
  • Give those series data labels or direct labels instead of relying on the legend.
Chart colours
8, in 7 hue families
Lightness range
20–54 %
Text contrast
16.8:1
Muted text
7.1:1
Weakest chart colour
3:1 on cards
Near-grey series
0

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#FFF9EE—base
Card / surface#FFFFFF—base
Text#1E171517.67:1AA text
Muted text#5E534C7.45:1AA text
Accent#D7263D4.96:1≥ 3:1
Good#1E86684.50:1≥ 3:1
Neutral#B98A003.14:1≥ 3:1
Bad#D7263D4.96:1≥ 3:1
Data colour 1#D7263D4.96:1≥ 3:1
Data colour 2#1E86684.50:1≥ 3:1
Data colour 3#D77E1A3.05:1≥ 3:1
Data colour 4#2F254214.34:1≥ 3:1
Data colour 5#8E5BA84.99:1≥ 3:1
Data colour 6#5B8C5A3.93:1≥ 3:1
Data colour 7#9E84003.65:1≥ 3:1
Data colour 8#4C86C63.80:1≥ 3:1

Theme JSON excerpt

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

retro-diner-theme.json
{
  "name": "Retro Diner",
  "dataColors": [
    "#D7263D",
    "#1E8668",
    "#D77E1A",
    "#2F2542",
    "#8E5BA8",
    "#5B8C5A",
    "#9E8400",
    "#4C86C6"
  ],
  "background": "#FFF9EE",
  "foreground": "#1E1715",
  "tableAccent": "#D7263D",
  "good": "#1E8668",
  "neutral": "#B98A00",
  "bad": "#D7263D"
}

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 Retro Diner 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 Retro Diner colours.

Line chart · 576×176 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 "Net sales by week". It sits in a 576×176 px slot on a designed report page. Match the report's brand: data colours #D7263D, #1E8668, #D77E1A, #2F2542, #8E5BA8, #5B8C5A; background #FFFFFF; text #1E1715; font Segoe UI. Transparent visual background so the page design shows through; no visual border. The report uses the Retro Diner Power BI theme.

Templates in this theme

Backgrounds to pair with Retro Diner

Light page backgrounds that sit well under this palette. Each background page has its own theme download, or keep Retro Diner 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 Retro Diner 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 1 pair 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 Retro Diner theme use?

It uses Trebuchet MS 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.

Similar themes

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Design a page in Retro Diner

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.