Setting Rating Colors and Chart Styles

In this article, we talk about how you can add rating colors and rating images to your templates so they match the look and feel of your brand or the styles built into the design.

In each design, we have provided a palette of three traffic light colors that will work well with the template design and a selection of rating images to match. But you can use any color you like and create your own rating images if you wish. 

When are rating colors used?

Rating colors are a creative and visual way of banding scores. While the most popular rating colors are red, orange, and green traffic light systems, you can add as many rating levels and colors as you like. You can also add more than one level of ratings to your assessment using advanced ratings. For more details on this, please visit the relevant help articles.

Rating colors are typically found in charts. They may be presented in the background of a bar chart using the rating bands merge string or added as color lines using the rating lines merge string. Ratings may also be used by default to color a chart. For example, if you were using a traffic light rating system, a donut chart may be colored yellow if the score sits in the middle rating.

When are rating images used?

Rating images are a completely optional addition. Typically, they are used in checklists or summaries to indicate areas of attention, urgency, or anything else alongside rating text. This helps to break up a page that may otherwise by a bullet point list or a wall of text. It also helps the person reading the report to scan a section and get a quick view of what's most important to them. 

Adding your rating colors and images

To add your rating colors and images, have the HEX codes for your template ready, and download the .zip file of images so they're ready for upload. You'll also want to 'unzip' the file by clicking on it.

Both the colors and the images are available on the template's help page. 

Adding your rating colors and images is done in Brilliant Assessments, not in Microsoft Word.

1. In Brilliant Assessments, navigate to your Assessment
2. Click Assessment Settings
3. Navigate to the Ratings Tab
4. Add as many rating levels as you need, or use the default ratings in the system
5. Select 'Edit' on a Rating
6. Add the Rating Color HEX code
7. Upload the image you would like to use for that rating
8. Click Save

Once saved, update all other ratings. The colors and rating images should appear in your report where the appropriate merge strings are used.

Overriding the Chart Color

In the assessment builder, you can override the default chart color at the section and subsection level. This is often easier than adding chart colors to the merge string. 

To do this:

1. Click Edit on the section or subsection you would like to apply the override to
2. Add your preferred chart color
3. Save

Please note this only applies to the chart color and does not affect rating colors.

(Advanced) Adding your own rating images

In the Starter Templates, you'll notice that all rating images are in tables. The lowest point of your rating image will appear where your merge string is, so you need to ensure that the minimum height of the cell is large enough to accommodate the image. We also recommend aligning the text to the bottom of the cell unless you are sure that a connected column will extend the height beyond the rating image size - in which case, a center cell alignment may look best.

To set or view the cell height

1. Select the table in Word
2. Navigate to the Table Layout tab in the top Ribbon
3. See the height in this tab and resize as needed

Table Sizing Cheat Sheet