Let’s start at the very beginning: Getting Excel right from the ground up

Not every Excel spreadsheet is created with an audience in mind. Some are working files. Some are trackers. Some are calculations pulled together for an internal discussion. But then someone asks for a copy and, before you know it, said internal spreadsheet ends up in a board report, or even on a client’s desk.

Starting with the right foundations is a very good place to start: the correct fonts, the right colours, consistent formatting and a clear, sensible structure.

Not because every spreadsheet needs to look polished to within an inch of its life, but because those foundations make everything that follows easier. The spreadsheet is clearer to use, easier for someone else to pick up and, if it eventually finds its way beyond the firm, there is no last-minute scramble to make it look as though it belongs there.

When branding takes a back seat

How a spreadsheet looks is not always front of mind when people are working in Excel. They’re usually concentrating on the figures, the calculations or the information they need to organise. If the spreadsheet works and the numbers are right, that may feel like the job is done.

Perhaps that’s why spreadsheets can be overlooked when organisations think about how their brand is applied in everyday work. Word documents and PowerPoint presentations are more obviously associated with the firm because they’re so often outward facing. Excel, by comparison, is usually seen as a working tool, predominantly for internal purposes.

And, for the most part, it is. But spreadsheets do sometimes land in front of clients, find their way into reports or become part of a wider presentation. When they do, it helps if they feel like part of the same organisation without turning every workbook into a design project.

When colour becomes the shortcut

So, what happens when somebody decides the spreadsheet could be a little clearer, more distinctive or easier to navigate?

Colour is one of the easiest places to start. A darker heading here, a fill colour there, perhaps another shade for totals or key figures. Used well, these choices can establish hierarchy and make information easier to scan.

But which colours? How much? What should stand out, and what should be more understated?

The issue isn’t that people set out to make the spreadsheet more colourful. They’re simply trying to make it look better, often without much to guide them.

That’s where branding can help. Not by turning every workbook into a complex design exercise, but by making the right fonts, approved colours, sensible borders and other useful formatting readily available to all users at the click of a button.

The problem with endless choice

Excel gives people an enormous amount of freedom. That’s one of its strengths.

It’s also one of the reasons inconsistency creeps in so easily.

There’s no shortage of colours to choose from. The same goes for fonts, borders, chart styles, fills and effects. Unless there is an obvious reason to choose one option over another, people naturally make their own decisions.

Not because they are ignoring the brand. Because the software has asked them to decide.

If the approved colours are buried in a brand manual that’s not close at hand, the exact RGB values live somewhere on a shared drive and nobody quite remembers which blue is the proper shade of blue, a little improvisation is almost inevitable.

Sometimes the result is very close. Sometimes it really isn’t.

Users can get these details almost right, or very wrong, but rarely spot on. Without the right tools and guidance, even well-intentioned attempts at consistency can produce a collection of spreadsheets that feel as though they came from different places.

Building the right choices in

What if people didn’t have to remember any of that?

What if the right colours and fonts were simply there when they needed them? Or the formatting they use regularly was available without having to recreate it each time?

This is where a little customisation starts to earn its keep. The firm’s colours and fonts can be made within easy reach, while buttons on the Excel Ribbon can make approved fills, font colours, borders and shape formatting easy to apply.

The benefit isn’t simply that spreadsheets look more consistent. It means users spend less time searching for the right settings, recreating formatting or wondering whether they have chosen the right option.

People still decide what works for the spreadsheet in front of them. The difference is that they’re making these decisions within a framework that’s already established.

Different spreadsheets, different needs

Of course, spreadsheets are used for all sorts of things, so why would they all need to look the same?

An internal working file may need little more than clear headings and sensible formatting. Something being shared with a client or incorporated into a formal report may call for more structure, clearer hierarchy or a little more polish.

The aim isn’t only uniformity. It’s recognition. Whatever the purpose of the spreadsheet, it should present itself as coming from the same organisation.

Then even the spreadsheet that was never supposed to leave the building is already dressed appropriately if it does.

Putting Microsoft 365 to work

This is where Microsoft 365 can take on some of the remembering.

Do people really need to know the RGB value of the firm’s blue? Should they have to check which font is approved? Or recreate the same border and fill combinations every time they start another workbook?

Probably not.

These are decisions the firm has already made. Why ask every individual user to make them again, over and over? Building them into Excel means users can focus on the spreadsheet itself rather than repeatedly working out how it should look.

Microsoft 365 gives us the tools to build those decisions into Excel so that the colours and fonts are already there, and frequently used formatting is easy to reach.

The thinking still belongs to the person using the spreadsheet: deciding what the information means, how it should be organised and how best to communicate it. The software removes some of the friction around getting there.

Quiet consistency

The result isn’t a collection of spreadsheets that all look identical. Nor should it be.

It’s something much more subtle than that.

A colleague opens a workbook and the formatting feels familiar. A client receives a report and the spreadsheet sits naturally alongside the firm’s other documents. A new workbook can be created without someone having to hunt down the brand guidelines first.

Nothing is shouting about the branding. It’s simply there, providing a familiar visual language and helping information feel clear, considered and connected to the organisation behind it.

And if that working spreadsheet eventually finds its way into a client email, a report or a presentation, nobody has to spend time making it look as though it belongs to the firm.

It already does.

Further reading

If you’re looking for more useful advice on branding, our ‘Putting your brand guidelines to work’ blog explores how clear, practical brand guidelines can help people use your brand consistently and with confidence.

And if you’re keen to get to know Excel better, our ‘Meet your new Excel keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet’ blog shares handy shortcuts to allow you to work smarter and get more from the software.