Make your reports read like a finished document.
Board decks, financial statements, monthly and quarterly packs — recurring reports your team rebuilds every period. Excel report design turns them from raw spreadsheets into documents people actually read.
Joshua Cottrell-Schloemer · 2× Microsoft Excel MVP · worked with Microsoft, Kellogg's, Philips, Novo Nordisk
Excel report design is the practice of applying design — layout, typography, hierarchy, color, and chart design — to recurring reports such as board decks, financial, monthly, and quarterly reports, so they read like a finished, designed document instead of a raw spreadsheet. Because these reports run on a schedule, the highest-value version is a reusable report system that looks consistent every period and updates in one place.
What report design covers
A report isn't a single screen — it's a sequence. A board pack or monthly financial report is read top to bottom, page after page, often by people who didn't build it and won't ask questions. Report design is what makes that sequence legible: a clear structure, a consistent grid across pages, summary numbers that lead, and detail that supports rather than overwhelms.
In practice it covers the cover and contents, the executive summary, the KPI and headline figures, the supporting tables and charts, and the through-line that ties periods together. The same Excel design principles apply — hierarchy, restrained color, deliberate typography, honest charts — but pointed at a multi-page, recurring document rather than one interactive screen.
The payoff is blunt: a report that's hard to read is a report nobody acts on. Good report design improves comprehension and trust, which is the entire reason the report exists.
What good report design does
One structure, every period
A repeatable layout and contents order so each month's report feels like the same document — comparable at a glance and faster to build.
Summary leads, detail supports
The headline figures and the story come first; the supporting tables sit behind them. Readers get the answer before the evidence.
A consistent grid
Aligned columns, shared margins, and predictable spacing across every page — the quiet thing that makes a pack feel professionally produced.
Restrained, meaningful color
One accent used as a signal, neutral everywhere else. Variance and direction are coded consistently, not decorated.
Honest, comparable charts
The chart that shows the comparison fastest, styled the same way every period so trends read instantly across reports.
A reusable system
A set theme of colors, fonts, and spacing so the whole reporting suite stays consistent and updates from one place.
Options & pricing
From a quick async review to a bespoke, reusable report system — pick the level of help that fits.
Bespoke report system
A designed, reusable Excel reporting system for your recurring board, financial, monthly, or quarterly reports — built from the ground up to your brand and your data. Scoped as a consulting engagement; project minimums typically start at a $5K project minimum.
Email to scope a system →Report review
The fastest way to get my eyes on an existing report. A recorded teardown plus a polished guidance summary with priorities and examples — delivered in 5 business days. You keep the file and make the changes yourself.
See the review service →Template customization
Start from one of my report templates and have it customized to your brand and your data — your colors, fonts, and logo applied, your numbers loaded in — delivered as a clean, ready-to-use workbook in 5 business days.
See the customization service →From principle to file
Dashboard & report examples
A gallery of polished Excel work with the design ideas behind each one.
See examples →What is Excel design?
The principles behind every designed report, defined in plain English.
Read the definition →Report templates
Ready-made dashboards, charts, and report templates to start from.
Browse templates →Dashboard redesign
Have an existing dashboard? Get it redesigned to the same standard.
See redesign →Trusted by teams that care how data looks
Beyond client work, Big Excel Energy reaches a community of 480,000 followers on TikTok and 20,000 newsletter subscribers, and has shared nearly a million Excel design files. More about Josh →
Report design, answered
What is Excel report design?
Excel report design is the practice of applying design — layout, typography, hierarchy, color, and chart design — to recurring reports such as board decks, financial, monthly, and quarterly reports, so they read like a finished, designed document rather than a raw spreadsheet. The goal is a report that explains itself and gets read.
What kinds of reports does this cover?
Recurring, repeatable reports: board reports, financial statements, monthly and quarterly reporting packs, KPI summaries, and management reports. Because these run on a schedule, the biggest payoff is a reusable report system that looks consistent every period and updates in one place.
How do I get my reports designed?
Three options. A bespoke, reusable report system is scoped as a consulting engagement with project minimums typically starting at $5,000. For faster, lighter help, start with a $1,000 async review of an existing report, or a flat $1,000 template customization that applies your brand and data to an existing template.
How is report design different from dashboard design?
They share the same principles. A dashboard is usually a single interactive screen; a report is a multi-page, often recurring document — a board pack or monthly financial report — that needs to read in sequence like a finished document, with consistent structure across pages and periods. See dashboard redesign →
How do we get started?
For fast feedback on an existing report, use the review service. For a bespoke report system, email [email protected] with a short description of your reports and what you'd like them to do.