Appendix I — Styling Plots

I.1 Aesthetics

I.1.1 Colour/Fill

The colour argument changes the point and line colour, while the fill argument changes the interior colour of shapes. Type colours() into the console to see a list of all the named colours in R. Alternatively, you can use hexadecimal colours like "#FF8000" or the rgb() function to set red, green, and blue values on a scale from 0 to 1.

Hover over a colour to see its R name.

black
gray1
gray2
gray3
gray4
gray5
gray6
gray7
gray8
gray9
gray10
gray11
gray12
gray13
gray14
gray15
gray16
gray17
gray18
gray19
gray20
gray21
gray22
gray23
gray24
gray25
gray26
gray27
gray28
gray29
gray30
gray31
gray32
gray33
gray34
gray35
gray36
gray37
gray38
gray39
gray40
dimgray
gray42
gray43
gray44
gray45
gray46
gray47
gray48
gray49
gray50
gray51
gray52
gray53
gray54
gray55
gray56
gray57
gray58
gray59
gray60
gray61
gray62
gray63
gray64
gray65
darkgray
gray66
gray67
gray68
gray69
gray70
gray71
gray72
gray73
gray74
gray
gray75
gray76
gray77
gray78
gray79
gray80
gray81
gray82
gray83
lightgray
gray84
gray85
gainsboro
gray86
gray87
gray88
gray89
gray90
gray91
gray92
gray93
gray94
gray95
gray96
gray97
gray98
gray99
white
snow4
snow3
snow2
snow
rosybrown4
rosybrown
rosybrown3
rosybrown2
rosybrown1
lightcoral
indianred
indianred4
indianred2
indianred1
indianred3
brown4
brown
brown3
brown2
brown1
firebrick4
firebrick
firebrick3
firebrick1
firebrick2
darkred
red3
red2
red
mistyrose3
mistyrose4
mistyrose2
mistyrose
salmon
tomato3
coral4
coral3
coral2
coral1
tomato2
tomato
tomato4
darksalmon
salmon4
salmon3
salmon2
salmon1
coral
orangered4
orangered3
orangered2
lightsalmon3
lightsalmon2
lightsalmon
lightsalmon4
sienna
sienna3
sienna2
sienna1
sienna4
orangered
seashell4
seashell3
seashell2
seashell
chocolate4
chocolate3
chocolate
chocolate2
chocolate1
linen
peachpuff4
peachpuff3
peachpuff2
peachpuff
sandybrown
tan4
peru
tan2
tan1
darkorange4
darkorange3
darkorange2
darkorange1
antiquewhite3
antiquewhite2
antiquewhite1
bisque4
bisque3
bisque2
bisque
burlywood4
burlywood3
burlywood
burlywood2
burlywood1
darkorange
antiquewhite4
antiquewhite
papayawhip
blanchedalmond
navajowhite4
navajowhite3
navajowhite2
navajowhite
tan
floralwhite
oldlace
wheat4
wheat3
wheat2
wheat
wheat1
moccasin
orange4
orange3
orange2
orange
goldenrod
goldenrod1
goldenrod4
goldenrod3
goldenrod2
darkgoldenrod4
darkgoldenrod
darkgoldenrod3
darkgoldenrod2
darkgoldenrod1
cornsilk
cornsilk4
cornsilk3
cornsilk2
lightgoldenrod4
lightgoldenrod3
lightgoldenrod
lightgoldenrod2
lightgoldenrod1
gold4
gold3
gold2
gold
lemonchiffon4
lemonchiffon3
lemonchiffon2
lemonchiffon
palegoldenrod
khaki
darkkhaki
khaki4
khaki3
khaki2
khaki1
ivory4
ivory3
ivory2
ivory
beige
lightyellow4
lightyellow3
lightyellow2
lightyellow
lightgoldenrodyellow
yellow4
yellow3
yellow2
yellow
olivedrab
olivedrab4
olivedrab3
olivedrab2
olivedrab1
darkolivegreen
darkolivegreen4
darkolivegreen3
darkolivegreen2
darkolivegreen1
greenyellow
chartreuse4
chartreuse3
chartreuse2
lawngreen
chartreuse
honeydew4
honeydew3
honeydew2
honeydew
darkseagreen4
darkseagreen
darkseagreen3
darkseagreen2
darkseagreen1
lightgreen
palegreen
palegreen4
palegreen3
palegreen1
forestgreen
limegreen
darkgreen
green4
green3
green2
green
mediumseagreen
seagreen
seagreen3
seagreen2
seagreen1
mintcream
springgreen4
springgreen3
springgreen2
springgreen
aquamarine3
aquamarine2
aquamarine
mediumspringgreen
aquamarine4
turquoise
mediumturquoise
lightseagreen
azure4
azure3
azure2
azure
lightcyan4
lightcyan3
lightcyan2
lightcyan
paleturquoise
paleturquoise4
paleturquoise3
paleturquoise2
paleturquoise1
darkslategray
darkslategray4
darkslategray3
darkslategray2
darkslategray1
cyan4
cyan3
darkturquoise
cyan2
cyan
cadetblue4
cadetblue
turquoise4
turquoise3
turquoise2
turquoise1
powderblue
cadetblue3
cadetblue2
cadetblue1
lightblue4
lightblue3
lightblue
lightblue2
lightblue1
deepskyblue4
deepskyblue3
deepskyblue2
deepskyblue
skyblue
lightskyblue4
lightskyblue3
lightskyblue2
lightskyblue1
lightskyblue
skyblue4
skyblue3
skyblue2
skyblue1
aliceblue
slategray
lightslategray
slategray3
slategray2
slategray1
steelblue4
steelblue
steelblue3
steelblue2
steelblue1
dodgerblue4
dodgerblue3
dodgerblue2
dodgerblue
lightsteelblue4
lightsteelblue3
lightsteelblue
lightsteelblue2
lightsteelblue1
slategray4
cornflowerblue
royalblue
royalblue4
royalblue3
royalblue2
royalblue1
ghostwhite
lavender
midnightblue
navy
blue4
blue3
blue2
blue
darkslateblue
slateblue
mediumslateblue
lightslateblue
slateblue1
slateblue4
slateblue3
slateblue2
mediumpurple4
mediumpurple3
mediumpurple
mediumpurple2
mediumpurple1
purple4
purple3
blueviolet
purple1
purple2
purple
darkorchid
darkorchid4
darkorchid3
darkorchid2
darkorchid1
darkviolet
mediumorchid4
mediumorchid3
mediumorchid
mediumorchid2
mediumorchid1
thistle4
thistle3
thistle
thistle2
thistle1
plum4
plum3
plum2
plum1
plum
violet
darkmagenta
magenta3
magenta2
magenta
orchid4
orchid3
orchid
orchid2
orchid1
maroon4
violetred
maroon3
maroon2
maroon1
mediumvioletred
deeppink3
deeppink2
deeppink
deeppink4
hotpink2
hotpink1
hotpink4
hotpink
violetred4
violetred3
violetred2
violetred1
hotpink3
lavenderblush4
lavenderblush3
lavenderblush2
lavenderblush
maroon
palevioletred4
palevioletred3
palevioletred
palevioletred2
palevioletred1
pink4
pink3
pink2
pink1
pink
lightpink
lightpink4
lightpink3
lightpink2
lightpink1

I.1.2 Alpha

The alpha argument changes transparency (0 = totally transparent, 1 = totally opaque).

I.1.3 Shape

The shape argument changes the shape of points.

I.1.4 Linetype

You can probably guess what the linetype argument does.

The 6 linetype values at different sizes.

I.2 Palettes

Discrete palettes change depending on the number of categories.

Default discrete palette with different numbers of levels.

I.2.1 Viridis Palettes

Viridis palettes are very good for colourblind-safe and greyscale-safe plots. The work with any number of categories, but are best for larger numbers of categories or continuous colours.

Discrete Viridis Palettes

Set discrete viridis colours with scale_colour_viridis_d() or scale_fill_viridis_d() and set the option argument to one of the options below. Set direction = -1 to reverse the order of colours.

Note

If the end colour is too light for your plot or the start colour too dark, you can set the begin and end arguments to values between 0 and 1, such as scale_colour_viridis_c(begin = .1, end = .9).

Continuous Viridis Palettes

Set continuous viridis colours with scale_colour_viridis_c() or scale_fill_viridis_c() and set the option argument to one of the options below. Set direction = -1 to reverse the order of colours.

I.2.2 Brewer Palettes

Brewer palettes give you a lot of control over plot colour and fill. You set them with scale_color_brewer() or scale_fill_brewer() and set the palette argument to one of the palettes below. Set direction = -1 to reverse the order of colours.

Qualitative Brewer Palettes

These palettes are good for categorical data with up to 8 categories (some palettes can handle up to 12). The “Paired” palette is useful if your categories are arranged in pairs.

Sequential Brewer Palettes

These palettes are good for up to 9 ordinal categories with a lot of categories.

Diverging Brewer Palettes

These palettes are good for ordinal categories with up to 11 levels where the centre level is a neutral or baseline category and the levels above and below it differ in an important way, such as agree versus disagree options.

I.3 Themes

ggplot2 has 8 built-in themes that you can add to a plot like plot + theme_bw() or set as the default theme at the top of your script like theme_set(theme_bw()).

I.3.1 ggthemes

You can get more themes from add-on packages, like ggthemes”, “https://yutannihilation.github.io/allYourFigureAreBelongToUs/ggthemes/”). Most of the themes also have customscale_functions likescale_colour_economist()`. Their website has extensive examples and instructions for alternate or dark versions of these themes.

I.3.2 Fonts

You can customise the fonts used in themes. All computers should be able to recognise the families “sans”, “serif”, and “mono”, and some computers will be able to access other installed fonts by name.

sans <- g + theme_bw(base_family = "sans") + 
  ggtitle("Sans")
serif <- g + theme_bw(base_family = "serif") + 
  ggtitle("Serif")
mono <- g + theme_bw(base_family = "mono") + 
  ggtitle("Mono")
font <- g + theme_bw(base_family = "Comic Sans MS") + 
  ggtitle("Comic Sans MS")

sans + serif + mono + font + plot_layout(nrow = 1)

Warning

If you are working on a Windows machine and get the error “font family not found in Windows font database”, you may need to explicitly map the fonts. In your setup code chunk, add the following code, which should fix the error. You may need to do this for any fonts that you specify.

The showtext package is a flexible way to add fonts.

If you have a .ttf file from a font site, like Font Squirrel, you can load the file directly using font_add(). Set regular as the path to the file for the regular version of the font, and optionally add other versions. Set the family to the name you want to use for the font. You will need to include any local font files if you are sharing your script with others.

library(showtext)

# font from https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/SF-Cartoonist-Hand

font_add(
  regular = "fonts/cartoonist/SF_Cartoonist_Hand.ttf",
  bold = "fonts/cartoonist/SF_Cartoonist_Hand_Bold.ttf",
  italic = "fonts/cartoonist/SF_Cartoonist_Hand_Italic.ttf",
  bolditalic = "fonts/cartoonist/SF_Cartoonist_Hand_Bold_Italic.ttf",
  family = "cartoonist" 
)

To download fonts directly from Google fonts, use the function font_add_google(), set the name to the exact name from the site, and the family to the name you want to use for the font.

# download fonts from Google
font_add_google(name = "Courgette", family = "courgette")
font_add_google(name = "Poiret One", family = "poiret")

After you’ve added fonts from local files or Google, you need to make them available to R using showtext_auto(). You will have to do these steps in each script where you want to use the custom fonts.

showtext_auto() # load the fonts

To change the fonts used overall in a plot, use the theme() function and set text to element_text(family = "new_font_family").

a <- g + theme(text = element_text(family = "courgette")) +
  ggtitle("Courgette")
b <- g + theme(text = element_text(family = "cartoonist")) +
  ggtitle("Cartoonist Hand")
c <- g + theme(text = element_text(family = "poiret")) +
  ggtitle("Poiret One")

a + b + c

To set the fonts for individual elements in the plot, you need to find the specific argument for that element. You can use the argument face to choose “bold”, “italic”, or “bolditalic” versions, if they are available.

g + ggtitle("Cartoonist Hand") +
  theme(
    title = element_text(family = "cartoonist", face = "bold"),
    strip.text = element_text(family = "cartoonist", face = "italic"),
    axis.text = element_text(family = "sans")
  )