Theme
File → Theme and layout. Pick a theme, or Extract theme from image — upload a logo and Looker Studio builds a palette from it, which is the fastest route to something that matches a brand.
Customise the accent colours and text styles once here rather than styling components individually. A report where three charts use slightly different blues looks unfinished.
Canvas size
| Size | Use |
|---|---|
| 1200 × 900 | Default; good for desktop |
| 1600 × 1200 | Dense dashboards on large screens |
| 1080 × 1920 | Portrait, for wall displays |
| Custom | Match an embed container |
Changing canvas size after building reflows every component and you will reposition all of them by hand.
Alignment
Nothing snaps by default. Turn on View → Snap to grid, then use the arrange tools — select several components and align edges, distribute evenly, match size.
Five minutes of alignment is the difference between a report that looks built and one that looks assembled.
Reading order
People read top-left first. Put the headline numbers there — a KPI strip across the top, the main trend below, breakdowns beneath that, detail tables last.
Group related components and leave whitespace between groups. Whitespace does more for readability than borders.
Responsive limits
Looker Studio reports are fixed-canvas. Fit to width scales the whole thing, but components do not reflow, so a dense desktop report is unreadable on a phone.
If mobile matters, build a separate page with a single-column layout rather than hoping the desktop one scales.