Topics > Great Sheet Design

92 Tutorials

Every house is a home, if you decorate it. Every home still needs to be livable, functional, useful. These videos not only make your sheets look good, they also help your sheets function. Meaning you won’t be looking around for hidden columns, you won’t have to tell people twice where to put the damn data. 

Make Your Sheets Look Good And Feel Even Better
Are you tired of looking at boring and cluttered spreadsheets? 

Do you want to improve the visual appeal of your Google Sheets while also enhancing their functionality? Look no further than this section of great Google Sheet aesthetics and design tips! 

These simple yet effective design strategies will not only make your sheets look good, but they will also help you work more efficiently and effectively. If we're spending 8 to 10 hours a day inside spreadsheets, we might as well enjoy it. Right?


Creating an Aesthetically Pleasing Google Sheet
When it comes to creating a Google Sheet, functionality should always be the top priority. However, that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice aesthetics in the process. 

By incorporating a few design techniques, you can create a visually pleasing spreadsheet that is also easy to use and understand. From customizing cell formatting to adjusting color and iconography, there are many ways to improve the appearance and functionality of your Google Sheets.

Your coworkers will start to notice. Your sheets won't look like anyone else's. That is until they start stealing your techniques. And then you'll just have to come back for more! 


Customize Formatting for Improved Readability

One of the easiest ways to improve the aesthetics of your Google Sheets is to customize the format of your cells. By adjusting font sizes, styles, and colors, you can create a clean and consistent look that is easy to read and understand. Here are some tips for customizing cell formatting:


Choose a Clear and Readable Font

The font you choose for your Google Sheet can have a big impact on its readability. Choose a font that is clear, easy to read, and consistent throughout your sheet. Some popular options include Arial, Helvetica, and Calibri. But I personally like Karla the most. If you're looking for a the best header font, try Oswald.

I go into more details in these tutorials: My Favorite Fonts and Better Header Fonts


Adjust Font Sizes and Styles for Emphasis

To draw attention to important data, you can increase the font size and style of specific cells or sections of your sheet. they might tell you to use larger font sizes for headings or subheadings, and consider using bold or italicized text for emphasis. But there are some many more techniques you can use. 

For example instead of making your header bigger, and then losing readability of your data, keep your header small. You only need it for navigation and orientation, not constantly to read. Your data is more important.

One more quick technique is not to increase the size or boldness of your headers, but rather decrease the contrast of your non-important data. Down towards gray will help you point out your important data.


Use Colors to Highlight Data

Color is a powerful tool for drawing attention to specific data points in your sheet. Use contrasting colors to make data stand out, or apply a consistent color scheme throughout your sheet for a cohesive look.

Well that's what they all say but your in Better Sheets, there's a better way.

First off, decrease the contrast of your sheets. This improves the experience so you can actually stare at your sheets longer. The highest contrast hurts our eyes! And Arial hurts our hearts.

Get this free Google Sheet Add-on: Sheet Styles to decrease the contrast between your text and background with one click.


Adding Images and Graphics to Enhance Visual Appeal

Another way to improve the aesthetics of your Google Sheets is to incorporate images and graphics. By adding icons, logos, or other visual elements, you can make your sheet more engaging and memorable. Here are some tips for using images and graphics in your sheet:

Use Icons and Symbols to Simplify Data

Icons and symbols can be a great way to simplify complex data and make it easier to understand. Consider using icons or symbols to represent different data points or categories in your sheet.

Use Emojis when and where you can. They empower you to get a little funky with your sheets.
check out this tutorial: Insert Emojis in Sheets


some other advice they might have:
  • Creating a Consistent and Cohesive Look
  • Choose a Color Scheme and Stick to It
  • Use Formatting Styles Consistently

But this is all well and good only if you know good design. If your design techniques are poor, then your consistently screwing up.

The sheet design techniques featured in these tutorials will empower you to make great sheets. Sheets that your bosses will love. Sheets you'll love to work in. And might just save your sanity once and for all.

92Tutorials

Learn the best fonts to use in Google Sheets.
Are you tired of the default look of your Google Sheets? In this video, I'll show you the ultimate way to revitalize your workspace and enhance your productivity. By changing the background and text color in Google Sheets, you can create a more personalized and visually appealing environment that suits your preferences. Join me as I guide you through the simple steps to achieve a vibrant and eye-friendly spreadsheet experience.

Get Sheet Styles here: https://sheet-styles.bettersheets.co/
 Hey there! In this video, I'll show you how to create awesome buttons in Google Sheets using a three by three set of cells. We'll merge cells, adjust alignment, resize rows and columns, add colors and shadows, change fonts, and even make the buttons look like hyperlinks. And the best part? I'll also show you how to do it all in just one click using the Button Styles add-on. So get ready to make your Google Sheets look super cool with these stylish buttons! 🚀
Common mistake is highlighting the header of a table in a bold color.
Some helpful tips on how to get someone to look at a particular cell in your sheet.
Welcome to the captivating world of Readable Hex Codes! In this video, we dive into the intriguing realm of colors represented by hex codes. You'll witness the magic unfold as we explore the delightful hues of "Coffee," "Decade," and many more. With a click, we'll reveal the true essence of these hex codes and bring them to life on a Google Sheet.
Going beyond PRIDE, to show you some undocumented google sheets hacks that you might call "Easter Eggs"
Create an apps script to move active tab to the far right.
Create rounded pill form fields in Google Sheets.
Using Canva and a bit of a transparent PNG hack, you can make these very easily too!

also make sure to check out Coupon Code Maker a software product I sell that generates thousands of coupon codes in a click.

Recently updated dashboard makes it really cool! 
Create nice colorful sheets (contrasting colors) that look and feel like an extension of your site. Add some padding around text. Decrease text and make your sheets awesome.
Little tricks to make Currency Exchange in Google Sheets better for you, and easier to read for others. Great for beginners, as well as Advanced Users.
Create a cool function that brightens your sheet background from white to some specific color  a little bit each time you check off a to-do item.
Automate formatting cells to align top. Either by a time-based trigger or every time you edit cells.
Let me tell about some cool hacks you can do with checkboxes. Like making a checkbox have alternative values, or making a checkbox look like a button, not a check mark.
Get "Big Year" for free via Gumroad.

Get perspective on your 2024 plan with this full year calendar template in Google Sheets.

All-Year-in-One Overview

Imagine having the entire year's schedule on one single page. BIG YEAR offers a comprehensive 12-month display, providing an at-a-glance view of your whole year. This holistic perspective makes it easier to plan long-term projects, vacations, and personal milestones, ensuring you never miss out on life's big events.

More info on the Gumroad page
Design walkthrough of VisiCalc 2023. Watch this if you'd like to see the choices made for this template and "product". I chose specific fonts and colors based on the original VisiCalc.
Create uniform formatting even if you're copy and pasting data that is differently formatted.
I created a weight loss tracker template for myself and thought you, and all members would like it. So get it, copy it, and start your weight loss journey today. Comes with a nice chart already so all you have to do is add your numbers every day.
This is a review and improvement of Emmett Shear's Life to Date Sheet. Originally he tweeted about it and shared a sheet. I thought I could make it a bit better looking.
Learn a cool trick you can do with the ArrayFormula. If you don't know what the ArrayFormula does, I show you how to use it in the first few minutes of this video.  Then show you how to use it better.
A few tips to make your Google Sheets look better.
Learn how Starter Story, and Pat Walls, created a report that is well designed and packed with information.

Get the report at starterstory.com/solopreneur
You can easily add your own links and improve your bio for free.
A calendar template designed like early Craigslist. A brutalism minimalist style calendar.
I'll show you how to create a visual clock in your Google Sheet using conditional formatting. 

By following a few simple steps, you'll be able to see the progress of each hour throughout the day. 

No manual updates required! I'll guide you through setting up the custom formula, applying it to the desired range, and making it work for multiple columns if needed. 

Plus, I'll share a tip on how to reverse the colors if you prefer to track the remaining time instead. 

Let's get started and make your Google Sheet even more efficient! 
Ali gave away a free Google Sheet Template. In this tutorial I step through making it better, with better fonts, and colors. As well as making it more branded to share Ali's brand message better as the sheet gets copied and used, and shared. Great tutorial for those wondering how to brand your own sheets. Make your own lead magnets, and share your brand's message via Google Sheets.
I've created simple automations to make an awesome automatic task list. Add a checkbox when adding a task. Add a timestamp when done. Also emailing every day the top task.
A new free Google Sheets Add-On to make drop shadow buttons inside your sheets. Free for everyone. Announced to members first.
Learn how to make better lead magnets from Google Sheet checklists. Great for marketers and solo operators trying to get more leads, more customers, more clients.
how to create and customize checklists using Google Sheets. I show you how to add check boxes, headers, and formatting to make your checklists visually appealing. I also explain how to use conditional formatting to create a progress bar and add fun elements like easter eggs. Watch this video to learn how to make the ultimate checklist and feel free to suggest more features for future videos!
Find out what fonts to use to make your headers better.
A master class on merging cells. How to merge two cells. How to merge multiple cells. How to merge horizontally, vertically, and why.  Create groups. Create headers. And how to merge automatically. Members get the sheet and the apps script down below.
Create a status flow chart, like a kanban board but for displaying coffee orders.
What is "&" doing in this formula? MONTH(A1&1)
Do you know why this is so cool? It can replace an entire vlookup chart I've been making for years.
How to use alternating colors in your spreadsheets.
Now you can select multiple options in a dropdown. Hip Hip Hooray!
Build from scratch a calculator to figure out podcast advertising rates.
Get ready to shake things up, formula fanatics! Learn how to add a dark mode button to your Google Sheets with this dead simple trick. Using conditional formatting and a custom formula, you can turn on dark mode with just one click. Don't miss out on this cool feature! Made this really quick dark mode click button. And I wanted to show you how I did it because it's dead simple, super simple. It's literally just using conditional formatting
Install Sheet Styles now: https://sheet-styles.bettersheets.co/
We're gonna create another virtual mall, and in this one we're gonna make it for newsletters
Turning an infographic into a useful Copy Writing cheat sheet
Wanted to share with members this course outline I am using for my own course making process. I outlined the course then added a bunch of cool little stats to help see my progress and keep me on a certain pace of video creation. 
Quick intro to a better experience of using Google Sheets
Learn about "Oswald" the best font for headers. You might fall in love with this font as much as I've fallen in love with Karla (the font). It helps your headers stand out without having to do much coloring or more. A little change to your header font and your sheets will look better.
3 options to show dropdowns. It looks actually much closer to Airtable, but some people don't want this some sheets sort of fanatics, enthusiasts, people who love Google Sheets and don't really want to look.
Find out how to turn some data you can copy/paste from the web into a branded lead magnet for yourself.

Check out Josh's Tweet about the sheet.
and check out his Podia.
 
The video shows the importance of adding personal touches to a Google Sheet to connect better with users. It explains how to analyze the sheet's data to find trends and best practices for website content. Lastly, it discusses ways to share the sheet widely while still giving credit to its creator.
I offer an alternative design for your dashboards. Any time you want to present information, stats, numbers, it's a good idea to see what else is possible. Design something that makes your sheets stand out from the drudgery we've been dealing with for decades of spreadsheets and dashboards.
Without gridlines our sheets become a lot easier to communicate exactly what we want to communicate.
There are surprisingly few times you want to have blank cells, or even create blank cells. In this video I'll show you the good reasons you want blank cells.
This is a fun template I created for April 1st. Take a quick walk through the features here. And get yourself a copy of the sheet below.
Using Control+Command+Space in inserting emojis into Google Sheets.
Showing off New experiences in smart canvas changes to sheets. Including Date Chips, and Files Chips. Introduced in early 2023.
Learn How to Take Your Google Sheets Checkbox to the Next Level and Get More Organized! Click Now to Discover Creative Ways to Use Checkboxes and Boost Your Productivity!

We're going to take a basic function of Google sheets, which is the checkbox, and we are going to take it to its nth degree.
Find out how you can make your spreadsheets like a Bullet Journal. It's like a super powered Bullet Journal.
This is like one of those things that is incredibly frustrating about Google Sheets. I will tell you right now. It is the simplest, stupidest solution
Improve Google Sheets Readability
Improve the readability of your spreadsheets and supercharge your productivity with our top tips for better numbering and bullet points in Google Sheets.

Create Visually Appealing Sheets
Discover how to create clear, concise, and visually appealing spreadsheets that engage your audience and get results! Make your lists spicy hot with numbering and bullet points. Learn how to execute this to make your sheets look better.

Understanding the Importance of Readability in Spreadsheets Readability is crucial when it comes to spreadsheets. It refers to how easy it is for your audience to read and understand the data you are presenting. If your spreadsheet is cluttered, confusing, and hard to read, your audience will quickly lose interest and may not be able to make informed decisions based on the data you are presenting.

The Benefits of Using Bullet Points and Numbering in Spreadsheets
Using bullet points and numbering in spreadsheets can help to improve readability by breaking down complex information into more manageable pieces. Here are some of the benefits of using these features:
  • Bullet points and numbering help to organize information in a logical and easy-to-follow way
  • They make it easier to scan and find important information quickly
  • They can help to emphasize key points and make them stand out from the rest of the data 
  • They make your spreadsheet look more visually appealing and professional
Create a growing flower pot from checkboxes with this bountiful formula combination. Members get free access to the sheet in the video.
While the desktop version of Google Sheets does not have a dark mode, doesn't mean we can't make it ourselves. Create dark mode in one click. You'll learn to make a dark mode toggle.
Take your email marketing to the next level with our Google Sheet Campaign Stats Calculator. Analyze open rates, click-throughs, and conversions, and make data-driven decisions to improve your campaigns. Build a sheet from scratch. We're going to build a calculator, with some functions and some custom functions in apps script. We'll also design the sheet like a funky dashboard.
Every word can be capitalized with this formula.
Create little graphs with SPARKLINE() super easy!
Create a dropdown that changes the months displayed in a dashboard.
Create an epic organization sheet of all your spreadsheets. Unlock the secret to compiling all your scattered information into one easy-to-use sheet. Learn how to merge data from multiple tabs with this one-sheet solution. Perfect for creating summaries and dashboards. Get started now and streamline your workflow!
We're gonna talk about some features that we're gonna be using that might be new to you, or, just remind you that we're gonna use them to make 'em very interesting and unique to, using dashboards.
Create awesome progress bars with sparkline formula. You can make progress bar colors can change based on the input.
Build a habit tracker in dark mode. Learn how to use emojis and checkboxes effectively.
This tool will allows you to share multiple links on your social media.
One common feature that users often request is the ability to add star ratings to their spreadsheets. While this feature is not built into Google Sheets, it is possible to create a star rating system using emojis and data validation.
One of the best examples of a dashboard I got from a great talk on just totally like SASS dashboards, and they talked about the speedometer and why the speedometer is such a great dashboard is that it is it encapsulates all of the principles of what goes into a great dashboard.
Want to create sleek, stunning PDFs from your Google Sheets? Look no further! Learn how to easily export your sheets to PDF format and impress your audience. Create a PDF from your Google Sheet.
We're actually gonna go build the dashboard today.
Track your goals with a thermometer.
A quick video to share with you this theory. Consider repositioning your headers as labels in a dashboard.
Add visual flair to your Google Sheets when sharing company domain information. You’ll learn how to use an undocumented Google API. ( Easier than you think!)
Use neon blue to show where someone needs to enter data.
Unlock the Secrets of Recipe Organization with this Google Sheet review. A deep dive into a Google Sheet and how to improve it. Not just a Google Sheet Tutorial. Dive deep into a sheet that hold recipes. Great video for those looking to organize and share Recipes in a Google Sheet. Whether you're a home cook or a budding professional chef. You're probably already curating your recipes in a Google Sheet. Here's how to make your sheet better.
Add extra pizzazz. a little more snazz to your sheets. Make dashboards with very flexible drop shadows. A great google Sheet trick for any occasion.
Today we're gonna talk about headers. I'm gonna give you three really cool ways to use your headers.
Your question is, you have these events and dates and statuses. And you want to turn them green actually you wanna turn them any, some color, the whole entire row based on if in this D column the status is closed.
How to create a video checklist. Create a sheet with check boxes that you check off to mark the videos as seen. Great for those creating lead magnets or checklist digital products. Enables you to create a video course without having to download/upload any videos. Your users can keep track of their progress and get all the benefit of your knowledge.
You can change the row height in 5 different ways in a google sheet. Consider adding padding around your text with more row height. and column width.
An optical illusion in Google Sheets and how to fix it.
to make better Dashboards consider merging cells.
 Revolutionize the way you react with emojis! Discover two new methods to add emoji reactions and take your spreadsheets to the next level. Learn how to create a reaction clicker and a reaction picker to personalize your sheets with emojis. Don't miss out on this game-changing method in Google Sheets. 

We're adding some emoji reactions to Google Sheets.
Make your Google Sheets visually appealing and easier to understand with our expert tips on using gridlines, border styles, and colors. Learn how to create a professional-looking spreadsheet that effectively communicates your data to your audience. Boost your productivity today! We're gonna be talking about how to communicate better with grid lines, border styles, and border colors. Really interesting thing happens when you hide grid lines. You lose the grid, and I'll show you how to add that in. And some really interesting things you can do with different styles of border.
Create fun funky bullet points to get your point across better. Put emojis in your sheets to bring them to life.
Go inside this apps script and sheet. See how it's designed and created.
Boost Your Productivity with a Priority Matrix: Learn How to Prioritize Your Tasks and Achieve More! Join us in this different kind of video and discover the best tips and tools to create a two by two grid that helps you determine what's important and urgent. Perfect for daily planners, long-term projects, decision-making, gift-picking, and more! Don't miss out on this collaborative and time-saving approach! 

Great use case for the formula combination of JOIN/FILTER.
Let's make a progress bar in Google Sheets.