Graphic Design with ggplot2

Working with Layouts and Composition

Cédric Scherer // rstudio::conf // July 2022

Setup

library(tidyverse)

bikes <- readr::read_csv(
  here::here("data", "london-bikes-custom.csv"),
  col_types = "Dcfffilllddddc"
)

bikes$season <- forcats::fct_inorder(bikes$season)

theme_set(theme_light(base_size = 14, base_family = "Roboto Condensed"))

theme_update(
  panel.grid.minor = element_blank(),
  plot.title = element_text(face = "bold"),
  plot.title.position = "plot"
)

Legend Placement
and Styling

Discrete Legend

pal <- c("#3c89d9", "#1ec99b", "#F7B01B", "#a26e7c")

ggplot(
    bikes,
    aes(x = temp_feel, y = count,
        color = season)
  ) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_manual(values = pal)

Continuous Legend

ggplot(
    bikes,
    aes(x = temp_feel, y = count,
        color = humidity)
  ) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_viridis_c()

Legend Position

ggplot(
    bikes,
    aes(x = temp_feel, y = count,
        color = humidity)
  ) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_viridis_c() +
  theme(
    legend.position = "bottom"
  )

Legend Justification

ggplot(
    bikes,
    aes(x = temp_feel, y = count,
        color = humidity)
  ) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_viridis_c() +
  theme(
    legend.position = "bottom",
    legend.justification = "left"
  )

Legend Position

ggplot(
    bikes,
    aes(x = temp_feel, y = count,
        color = humidity)
  ) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_viridis_c() +
  theme(
    legend.position = c(.25, .85)
  )

Legend Direction

ggplot(
    bikes,
    aes(x = temp_feel, y = count,
        color = humidity)
  ) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_viridis_c() +
  theme(
    legend.position = c(.25, .85),
    legend.direction = "horizontal"
  )

Legend Types

ggplot(
    bikes,
    aes(x = temp_feel, y = count,
        color = humidity)
  ) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_viridis_c(
    guide = "colorbar"
  ) +
  theme(
    legend.position = c(.25, .85),
    legend.direction = "horizontal"
  )

Legend Types

ggplot(
    bikes,
    aes(x = temp_feel, y = count,
        color = humidity)
  ) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_viridis_c(
    guide = "colorsteps"
  ) +
  theme(
    legend.position = c(.25, .85),
    legend.direction = "horizontal"
  )

Legend Types

ggplot(
    bikes,
    aes(x = temp_feel, y = count,
        color = humidity)
  ) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_viridis_b(
    guide = "colorsteps"
  ) +
  theme(
    legend.position = c(.25, .85),
    legend.direction = "horizontal"
  )

Legend Types

ggplot(
    bikes,
    aes(x = temp_feel, y = count,
        color = humidity)
  ) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_viridis_b(
    guide = guide_colorsteps()
  ) +
  theme(
    legend.position = c(.25, .85),
    legend.direction = "horizontal"
  )

Legend Styling

ggplot(
    bikes,
    aes(x = temp_feel, y = count,
        color = humidity)
  ) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_viridis_b(
    guide = guide_colorsteps(
      title.position = "top",
      title.hjust = .5
    )
  ) +
  theme(
    legend.position = c(.25, .85),
    legend.direction = "horizontal"
  )

Legend Styling

ggplot(
    bikes,
    aes(x = temp_feel, y = count,
        color = humidity)
  ) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_viridis_b(
    guide = guide_colorsteps(
      title.position = "top",
      title.hjust = .5,
      show.limits = TRUE,
      frame.colour = "black",
      frame.linewidth = 3,
      barwidth = unit(8, "lines")
    )
  ) +
  theme(
    legend.position = c(.25, .85),
    legend.direction = "horizontal"
  )

Legend Styling

ggplot(
    bikes,
    aes(x = temp_feel, y = count,
        color = humidity)
  ) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_viridis_c(
    breaks = 3:10*10,
    limits = c(30, 100),
    guide = guide_colorbar(
      title.position = "top",
      title.hjust = .5,
      ticks.linewidth = 3,
      barwidth = unit(20, "lines"),
      barheight = unit(.6, "lines")
    )
  ) +
  theme(
    legend.position = "top"
  )

Legend Styling

ggplot(
    bikes,
    aes(x = temp_feel, y = count,
        color = humidity)
  ) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_viridis_c(
    breaks = 3:10*10,
    limits = c(30, 100),
    guide = guide_colorbar(
      title.position = "top",
      title.hjust = .5,
      ticks.linewidth = 3,
      draw.ulim = FALSE,
      draw.llim = FALSE,
      barwidth = unit(20, "lines"),
      barheight = unit(.6, "lines")
    )
  ) +
  theme(
    legend.position = "top"
  )

Legend Styling

ggplot(
    bikes,
    aes(x = temp_feel, y = count,
        color = humidity)
  ) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_viridis_c(
    breaks = 3:10*10,
    limits = c(30, 100),
    guide = guide_colorbar(
      title.position = "top",
      title.hjust = .5,
      ticks = FALSE,
      barwidth = unit(20, "lines"),
      barheight = unit(.6, "lines")
    )
  ) +
  theme(
    legend.position = "top"
  )

Key Glyphs

ggplot(
    bikes,
    aes(x = lubridate::week(date),
        y = count,
        color = day_night)
  ) +
  stat_summary(
    geom = "line",
    fun = sum,
    size = 1
  ) +
  scale_color_manual(
    values = c("#28A87D", "#663399"),
    name = NULL
  ) +
  theme(
    legend.text = element_text(size = 16)
  )

Key Glyphs

ggplot(
    bikes,
    aes(x = lubridate::week(date),
        y = count,
        color = day_night)
  ) +
  stat_summary(
    geom = "line",
    fun = sum,
    key_glyph = "timeseries",
    size = 1
  ) +
  scale_color_manual(
    values = c("#28A87D", "#663399"),
    name = NULL
  ) +
  theme(
    legend.text = element_text(size = 16)
  )

Key Glyphs

ggplot(
    bikes,
    aes(x = lubridate::week(date),
        y = count,
        color = day_night)
  ) +
  stat_summary(
    geom = "line",
    fun = sum,
    key_glyph = "vline",
    size = 1
  ) +
  scale_color_manual(
    values = c("#28A87D", "#663399"),
    name = NULL
  ) +
  theme(
    legend.text = element_text(size = 16)
  )

Composing ggplot’s

Allison Horsts monster illustration of the patchwork extension package.

Illustration by Allison Horst

Graphic
Code

theme_std <- theme_set(theme_minimal(base_size = 18, base_family = "Pally"))
theme_update(
  text = element_text(family = "Pally"),
  panel.grid = element_blank(),
  axis.text = element_text(color = "grey50", size = 12),
  axis.title = element_text(color = "grey40", face = "bold"),
  axis.title.x = element_text(margin = margin(t = 12)),
  axis.title.y = element_text(margin = margin(r = 12)),
  axis.line = element_line(color = "grey80", size = .4),
  legend.text = element_text(color = "grey50", size = 12),
  plot.tag = element_text(size = 40, margin = margin(b = 15)),
  plot.background = element_rect(fill = "white", color = "white")
)

bikes_sorted <-
  bikes %>%
  filter(!is.na(weather_type)) %>%
  group_by(weather_type) %>%
  mutate(sum = sum(count)) %>%
  ungroup() %>%
  mutate(
    weather_type = forcats::fct_reorder(
      str_to_title(str_wrap(weather_type, 5)), sum
    )
  )

p1 <- ggplot(
    bikes_sorted,
    aes(x = weather_type, y = count, color = weather_type)
  ) +
  geom_hline(yintercept = 0, color = "grey80", size = .4) +
  stat_summary(
    geom = "point", fun = "sum", size = 12
  ) +
  stat_summary(
    geom = "linerange", ymin = 0, fun.max = function(y) sum(y),
    size = 2, show.legend = FALSE
  ) +
  coord_flip(ylim = c(0, NA), clip = "off") +
  scale_y_continuous(
    expand = c(0, 0), limits = c(0, 8500000),
    labels = scales::comma_format(scale = .0001, suffix = "K")
  ) +
  scale_color_viridis_d(
    option = "magma", direction = -1, begin = .1, end = .9, name = NULL,
    guide = guide_legend(override.aes = list(size = 7))
  ) +
  labs(
    x = NULL, y = "Sum of reported bike shares", tag = "P1",
  ) +
  theme(
    axis.line.y = element_blank(),
    axis.text.y = element_text(family = "Pally", color = "grey50", face = "bold",
                               margin = margin(r = 15), lineheight = .9)
  )

p1

Graphic
Code

p2 <- bikes_sorted %>%
  filter(season == "winter", is_weekend == TRUE, day_night == "night") %>%
  group_by(weather_type, .drop = FALSE) %>%
  mutate(id = row_number()) %>%
  ggplot(
      aes(x = weather_type, y = id, color = weather_type)
    ) +
    geom_point(size = 4.5) +
    scale_color_viridis_d(
      option = "magma", direction = -1, begin = .1, end = .9, name = NULL,
      guide = guide_legend(override.aes = list(size = 7))
    ) +
    labs(
      x = NULL, y = "Reported bike shares on\nweekend winter nights", tag = "P2",
    ) +
    coord_cartesian(ylim = c(.5, NA), clip = "off")

p2

Graphic
Code

my_colors <- c("#cc0000", "#000080")

p3 <- bikes %>%
  group_by(week = lubridate::week(date), day_night, year) %>%
  summarize(count = sum(count)) %>%
  group_by(week, day_night) %>%
  mutate(avg = mean(count)) %>%
  ggplot(aes(x = week, y = count, group = interaction(day_night, year))) +
    geom_line(color = "grey65", size = 1) +
    geom_line(aes(y = avg, color = day_night), stat = "unique", size = 1.7) +
    annotate(
      geom = "text", label = c("Day", "Night"), color = my_colors,
      x = c(5, 18), y = c(125000, 29000), size = 8, fontface = "bold", family = "Pally"
    ) +
    scale_x_continuous(breaks = c(1, 1:10*5)) +
    scale_y_continuous(labels = scales::comma_format()) +
    scale_color_manual(values = my_colors, guide = "none") +
    labs(
      x = "Week of the Year", y = "Reported bike shares\n(cumulative # per week)", tag = "P3",
    )

p3

{patchwork}

# install.packages("patchwork")
library(patchwork)
(p1 + p2) / p3

“Collect Guides”

(p1 + p2) / p3 + plot_layout(guides = "collect")

Apply Theming

((p1 + p2) / p3 & theme(legend.justification = "top")) + plot_layout(guides = "collect")

Apply Theming

(p1 + p2) / p3 & theme(legend.position = "none", plot.background = element_rect(color = "black", size = 3))

Adjust Widths and Heights

((p1 + p2) / p3 & theme(legend.position = "none")) +
  plot_layout(heights = c(.2, .1), widths = c(2, 1))

Use A Custom Layout

picasso <- "
AAAAAA#BBBB
CCCCCCCCC##
CCCCCCCCC##"
(p1 + p2 + p3 & theme(legend.position = "none")) + plot_layout(design = picasso)

Add Labels

pl1 <- p1 + labs(tag = NULL, title = "Plot One") + theme(legend.position = "none")
pl2 <- p2 + labs(tag = NULL, title = "Plot Two") + theme(legend.position = "none")
pl3 <- p3 + labs(tag = NULL, title = "Plot Three") + theme(legend.position = "none")

Add Labels

(pl1 + pl2) / pl3 +
  plot_annotation(tag_levels = "1", tag_prefix = "P", title = "An overarching title for all 3 plots, placed on the very top while all other titles are sitting below the tags.")

text <- tibble(
  x = 0, y = 0, label = "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, **consectetur adipiscing elit**, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation <b style='color:#000080;'>ullamco laboris nisi</b> ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat <b style='color:#cc0000;'>cupidatat non proident</b>, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum."
)

pt <- ggplot(text, aes(x = x, y = y)) +
  ggtext::geom_textbox(
    aes(label = label),
    box.color = NA, width = unit(23, "lines"),
    family = "Pally", color = "grey40", size = 6.5, lineheight = 1.4
  ) +
  coord_cartesian(expand = FALSE, clip = "off") +
  theme_void()

pt

Add Text

(p1 + pt) / p3

Add Inset Plots

pl1 + inset_element(pl2, l = .6, b = .1, r = 1, t = .6)

Add Inset Plots

pl1 + inset_element(pl2, l = .6, b = 0, r = 1, t = .5, align_to = 'full')

Add Inset Plots

(pl1 + inset_element(pl2, l = .6, b = .1, r = 1, t = .6) + pt) / pl3

Recap

guides are the combination of scales and legends
legends can be either modified with the guide_* function in scale_*() or guides() and with the theme() component qualitative
… while quantitative guides are colorbar, colorsteps or bins
{patchwork} is the most modern and simplest way to compose plots
- use +, / and | to combine plots
- use plot_layout() to adjust the layout, widths and heights
- use plot_annotation() to add tags and general labels
- use inset_element() to add inset graphics

Appendix

Legend with Color Shading

library(colorspace)
shades <- c(lighten(pal, .3),
                  darken(pal, .3))

g <-
  bikes %>%
  arrange(day_night, date) %>%
  mutate(
    season_day = paste(
      str_to_title(season), day_night
    ),
    season_day = forcats::fct_inorder(season_day)
  ) %>%
  ggplot(
    aes(x = season, y = count,
        fill = season_day)
  ) +
  stat_summary(
    geom = "col", fun = sum,
    position = position_dodge2(
      width = .2, padding = .1
    )
  ) +
  scale_fill_manual(
    values = shades, name = NULL
  ) +
  scale_x_discrete(
    labels = str_to_title
  ) +
  scale_y_continuous(
    labels = scales::comma_format(),
    expand = c(0, 0),
    limits = c(NA, 4500000)
  ) +
  labs(x = NULL, y = "Reported bike shares") +
  theme(
    panel.grid.major.x = element_blank(),
    axis.title = element_blank()
  )

g

Legend on Top

g +
  theme(legend.position = "top")

Resort Legend

g +
  guides(fill = guide_legend(byrow = TRUE)) +
  theme(legend.position = "top")

Graphic Design with ggplot2

Setup

Legend Placement and Styling

Discrete Legend

Continuous Legend

Legend Position

Legend Justification

Legend Position

Legend Direction

Legend Types

Legend Types

Legend Types

Legend Types

Legend Styling

Legend Styling

Legend Styling

Legend Styling

Legend Styling

Key Glyphs

Key Glyphs

Key Glyphs

Composing ggplot’s

{patchwork}

“Collect Guides”

Apply Theming

Apply Theming

Adjust Widths and Heights

Use A Custom Layout

Add Labels

Add Labels

Add Text

Add Text

Add Inset Plots

Add Inset Plots

Add Inset Plots

Recap

Appendix

Legend with Color Shading

Legend on Top

Resort Legend

Legend Placement
and Styling