Microsoft Power BI is a business analytics service from Microsoft that provides interactive visualizations and business intelligence capabilities. Its visual identity has evolved through two significant icon changes, most recently in 2020 when the product was aligned with the broader Microsoft Power Platform family.
Design and History
The Power BI icon was updated in October 2020, with the new icon rolling out to the online service starting in September 2020 and to the Power BI Desktop application in the October 2020 update.[1] Microsoft’s official October 2020 feature summary announced that “Power BI is getting a shiny new icon.”[2] The change was made to align Power BI’s icon style with other products in the Power Platform, which includes Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power Pages. Prior to the change, the Power BI icon style was inconsistent with the other Power Platform products; after the update, the visual style was unified across the platform.[1]
Microsoft’s official icon guidance for Power Platform products, published on Microsoft Learn, provides the current collection of approved icons for Power BI and related products. The documentation notes that icons were added and updated over time, with the article itself created in June 2021 and subsequent updates in May 2022, September 2024, October 2025, and December 2025.[3]
Microsoft’s usage guidelines for these icons state that they should be used to illustrate how products work together, should not be cropped, flipped, rotated, or distorted, and should not be used to represent third-party products or services.[3]
Meaning and Symbolism
Microsoft has not published an official explanation of the symbolic meaning behind the Power BI icon’s specific shapes or colors. What is documented is that the 2020 icon change was driven by a need for visual consistency across the Power Platform product family, signaling that Power BI is part of this unified platform rather than a standalone product.[1]
Microsoft’s official icon documentation emphasizes that the icons should be used as they appear within Microsoft Power Platform or individual products, and that the product name should be included near the icon in diagrams.[3]
Typography and Design
Microsoft has not published official documentation specifying the typography used in the Power BI wordmark or the exact color specifications for the current icon. The official Power Platform icon guidance on Microsoft Learn provides download locations for approved icons but does not detail font choices or precise color values.[3]
Microsoft’s design team has described the broader Office icon redesign approach, which involved decoupling letters and symbols into separate visual panels and emphasizing background symbols over letters to improve visual recognition.[4] However, this documentation does not specifically address the Power BI icon or its typography.
Logo Index is an independent educational archive covering logos, visual identities and graphic design history. All trademarks and brand assets remain the property of their respective owners.
