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Dashboard Design Practitioner Guide and Design Templates

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In order to contribute to quality improvement and design efficiency in dashboard development, Digital Agency has published a practical guidebook and a design template for dashboard development (for Power BI).

Updates

  • March 31, 2026 Dashboard Design Practical Guidebook and Design Template Officially Released

Table of Contents

1. Purpose of Disclosure

TMG is taking the lead in promoting data-based and evidence-based visualization of policy decisions and effects within the Government of Digital Agency. As part of this, TMG is providing practical guidebooks and other materials so that government, public institutions, and private companies can efficiently develop easy-to-understand dashboards. By making data easily visible, we aim to establish a correct common understanding among many stakeholders, improve the quality of decision-making, and lead to better actions.
The Practical Guidebook has been compiled and systematized to reflect the opinions of Digital Agency and experts in the private sector on dashboards and data-visualization, in addition to the knowledge gained in developing the Japan Dashboard and the Policy Data-Dashboard , which have been implemented in government officials.
It is aimed at all people, regardless of government or public institution employees, private sector or individuals, who want to use data and promote services but are unsure about how to use data appropriately.

2. Features of the Practical Guidebook

2.1 Dashboard quality and efficiency process

It introduces the process for improving and enhancing QCD (Quality, Cost, Delivery), including sorting out the requirements for the dashboard and building a consensus with project stakeholders through the prototype.

2.2 Information expression contributing to viewers' behavior and decision-making

It introduces information expressions (layout, graph expression, etc.) and Do's (desirable expression) / Dont's (undesirable expression) that are necessary to encourage people to make decisions and change their behavior, such as expressions that allow the viewer to know what they want to know and do not cause misunderstanding.

3. Download Practical Guidebook

Dashboard Design Practices Guide and Chart Component Library catch-up image. Thumbnails of the guide arranged in a tile at a slight angle.

Relevant material in the Guidebook

Related materials included in the Practical Guidebook can also be downloaded from the following locations.

4. Template Characteristics

4.1 No design fine-tuning required

Illustration comparing how to set up design templates. The top row shows the simple method of setting data. The bottom row shows the methods of "adjusting background," "adjusting chart colors and shapes," and "adjusting formats," in that order on the right, indicating that fine adjustments must be made.

As a Power BI template, you can create a dashboard with a unified design without fine-tuning the background, charts, and formatting. You can also copy and paste chart samples (bar charts, line charts, pie charts, etc.) and use them to streamline the dashboard development process.

4.2 Easily create an organized layout

Comparison with and without a layout grid. The left side shows an example in which it takes time to position the graph when there is no layout grid, and the right side shows an example in which it is easy to align the graph with grid lines when there is a layout grid.

To help anyone organize and arrange charts, we provide a grid system that serves as a basis for layout. You can create a dashboard with an easy-to-read layout by simply arranging charts to fit the grid.

4.3 Choose from a 7-color palette

A rendering of the dashboard using a seven color palette, showing stacked bar charts, numerical cards, pie charts, horizontal bar charts, comparison bar charts, and percentage change by region over time.

A total of seven color palettes are available: Solid Gray, Blue, Light Blue, Cyan, Green, Orange, and Red. The structure of each color palette, the colors used in the dashboard (text, background, chart, increase / decrease expression, etc.), and the dashboard image to which the color palette is applied are introduced below.

5. Download Template

A collection of graph templates for data visualization titled "Design Template". On the left side, there are more than eight types of sample graphs, including line graphs, area graphs, bar graphs, and horizontal bar graphs. On the right side, there are bar graphs, waterfall charts, pie charts, map graphs (Japan map), and scatter graphs. The overall color scheme is based on blue, and it shows usage examples and design patterns for each graph type.

You can download the dashboard design template below. (* It is distributed as a pbit file that can be used with Power BI.)

The JSON file applied to the template can be found at:

6. Design Applications

Examples of application of this guidebook and design templates are introduced.

Government ministries and agencies

Local government

7. Opinions and Requests

For questions and ideas, please contact Opinion and Request .