Taking a closer look at the new Power BI Card visual in its General Availability phase
1. Executive summary
The new Power BI Card visual reaches General Availability (GA) status, incorporating advanced improvements in design, composition, performance, and usability.
This release transforms the way critical KPIs are presented, expanding customization options, integrating images, new modern styles, and a flexible visual architecture that facilitates data storytelling.
Image New visual card
2. Context / Background
The Card visual has historically been one of the central elements in Power BI dashboards, especially for presenting key values such as totals, averages, financial KPIs, operational metrics, or health indicators.
This new version comes after months of feedback from the community and a public preview period.
The update is not a simple redesign: it introduces a completely improved visual model aligned with the new Power BI visual system.
Comparative image between old and new Card
3. Main developments
1. Image integration
Allows you to include representative images in the visual, from icons to photographs of products, areas, or KPIs.
These images can be uploaded from your computer, a URL, or data fields.
2. New default visual style
It includes updated fonts, optimized spacing, shadows, layers, and a better-integrated color palette.
3. Advanced layouts
The new "collage" mode allows for intelligent composition that prioritizes one part of the card while distributing the others.
Example image on Card
4. Full control of order and visibility of elements
The user can rearrange titles, values, images, and labels by simply dragging them.
5. Significant technical improvements
- Removal of excessive padding
- Better performance with autogrid
- Optimized alignment
- Background correction with partial images
6. Compatibility with existing reports
The old visual remains available—albeit hidden—and can be retrieved if necessary.
4. Key advantages
- Greater visual impact of corporate KPIs
- Expansion of storytelling within the report
- Better understanding of metrics for executive users
- More modern dashboards with their own visual identity
- Full integration with customized corporate themes
Visual card applied to a real KPI
5. Practical use cases
- Hospitals: hospital occupancy, bed turnover, waiting lists
- Industrial: scrap, OEE, production per line, energy consumption
- Retail: average ticket, conversion, sales per hour
- Finance: EBITDA, Cash Flow, forecast vs. actual, deviations
Example of use in industrial panel
6. Recommendations for adoption
- Enable the new visual theme in development environments
- Review and align the color palette with the corporate identity.
- Define which KPIs should incorporate images
- Test behavior on mobile phones, tablets, and ultra-wide screens
- Validate visual consistency with the rest of the dashboards
- Apply governance by documenting which KPIs Card will use and for what purpose.
7. Implications for corporate projects
The introduction of the new Card visual allows organizations with intensive dashboards, such as finance departments, hospitals, industrial or commercial areas, to obtain clearer panels with greater adoption by the end user.
This new visual approach aligns Power BI with modern standards of premium platforms such as Tableau or Looker, reinforcing its position as a leading tool in analytical storytelling.
8. Conclusion
Card visualization is evolving into a new standard of quality within Power BI, offering a richer, more modern, customizable, and powerful experience.
We recommend starting your adoption gradually to take full advantage of its aesthetic and functional improvements, both in existing dashboards and in new implementations.
9. Sources and bibliography
- Original news item: https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/deep-dive-into-the-new-card-visual-in-reports-generally-available/
- Official documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/power-bi
- Examples of modern visuals:https://powerbi.microsoft.com/blog