In adamhsparks/theme_usq: USQ Themed Plots for Base Graphics and 'ggplot2'

library(theme.usq)
library(ggplot2)
knitr::opts_chunk$set(eval = TRUE, collapse = TRUE, comment = "#>", fig.width = 7, fig.height = 5, fig.align = "center")

Introduction to theme.usq

The goal of theme.usq is to provide University of Southern Queensland (USQ) staff and students a quick and easy way to apply USQ colours and typography to graphs created in R using the base graphics package or ggplot2 while providing clear graphs for reports and presentations. All of the colours provided are defined in USQ's Visual Identity Colour Palette, but do not all appear in the same order to maintain usability for the purposes of graphing.

This package has been tested on macOS, Ubuntu Linux and USQ computers using Windows 7. For Linux users, if you have not installed the MS Core Fonts, you will need to do that for this package to function properly and generate the graphs with the proper typography. Windows and macOS users should be ready to go with just the installation of this package.

Using theme.usq

Load the library using the following command in R.

library(theme.usq)

Colours

To view a list of named colours in this package, simply type:

usq_colours

The resulting list shows the hexadecimal colour, e.g. "#ffd100", and it's name, "usq yellow". The names may be used to specify the colours at any time when plotting.

Palettes

Colours are grouped into convenient palettes as well. The palettes may be used when plotting. To see the palettes and colours included in each of them, simply type:

usq_palettes

Visualise the USQ primary palette to see the colours included.

vis_palette(usq_palettes$primary, "primary")

Create a vector of 16 colours based on USQ's primary colour palette.

usq_pal(p = "primary", r = FALSE, a = 1)(16)

Visualise the 16 interpolated colours from above,

vis_palette(usq_palettes$primary, "primary interpolated to 25", num = 16)

Examples

Following are a few examples of theme.usq's capabilities.

Example 1: Scatterplots of discrete data

Using plot_usq()

Plot plot car weights by miles per gallon.

plot_usq(x = mtcars$wt, y = mtcars$mpg)

Using ggplot2 and theme_usq()

Plot car weights by miles per gallon and facet by Transmission (0 = automatic, 1 = manual) using the scale_colour_usq() setting discrete = TRUE and using the cool palette to use blue USQ colours for the plot.

p1 <- ggplot(data = mtcars) +
  geom_point(aes(
    x = wt,
    y = mpg,
    colour = factor(gear)
  )) +
  scale_colour_usq(discrete = TRUE,
                   palette = "cool") +
  facet_wrap(~ am)

p1

Now add the theme_usq() to the graph.

p1 + theme_usq()

Example 2: Heatmaps or other continuous data

Using the theme.usq's theme_usq() for ggplot2, plot values using the scale_fill_usq() to use USQ colours for continuous values in the graph.

Warm gradients

p2a <- ggplot(data = faithfuld, aes(x = waiting, y = eruptions)) +
  geom_raster(aes(fill = density),
              interpolate = TRUE) +
  scale_fill_usq("warm",
                 discrete = FALSE) +
  theme_usq()

p2a

Cool gradients

p2b <- ggplot(data = faithfuld, aes(x = waiting, y = eruptions)) +
  geom_raster(aes(fill = density),
              interpolate = TRUE) +
  scale_fill_usq("cool",
                 discrete = FALSE) +
  theme_usq()

p2b

Example 3: Heatmaps using other colour palettes

Using ggplot2 and theme_usq()

theme_usq() can be used with any colour palette that you wish to use, while still applying the graph styling and typography to the graph.

Use the default ggplot2 colour scheme to fill the density plot while using the theme_usq() to theme the graph.

p3 <- ggplot(data = faithfuld, aes(x = waiting, y = eruptions)) +
  geom_raster(aes(fill = density), interpolate = TRUE) +
  theme_usq()

p3

Example 4: Histograms

Using hist_usq()

hist_usq(diamonds$carat)

Using ggplot2 and theme_usq()

p4 <- ggplot(data = diamonds, aes(x = carat)) +
  geom_histogram(fill = usq_cols("usq charcoal")) +
  theme_usq()

p4

Example 5: Boxplots

Using boxplot_usq()

Plot the highway miles per gallon (mpg) of 38 popular car models in the US by class of car.

boxplot_usq(mpg$hwy ~ mpg$class)

Using ggplot2 and theme_usq()

p5 <- ggplot(data = mpg, aes(x = class, y = hwy)) +
  geom_boxplot(alpha = 0.75,
               fill = usq_cols("usq charcoal"),
               colour = usq_cols("usq charcoal")) +
  theme_usq()

p5

Use the USQ colours to fill the box-plots while using drv (e.g., 4-wheel drive, front-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive) for the box-plot colour.

p5.1 <- ggplot(data = mpg, aes(x = class, y = hwy)) +
  geom_boxplot(aes(fill = drv),
               colour = usq_cols("usq charcoal")) +
  scale_fill_usq("primary") +
  theme_usq()

p5.1

Example 6: Timeseries

Using ggplot2 and theme_usq() to plot timeseries lines using

discrete colours for each variable of interest. While possible to do with base R graphics, ggplot2 simplifies the process greatly, so it is the only example provided and suggested for use.

p6 <- ggplot(data = as.data.frame(economics_long),
             aes(x = date, y = value01, colour = variable)) +
  geom_line() +
  scale_colour_usq("bright") +
  theme_usq()

p6

Example 7: Barplots

Using barplot_usq()

Plot the areas in thousands of square miles of landmasses which exceed 10,000 sqm.

barplot_usq(islands, col = "cool gray")

Using ggplot2 and theme_usq()

Plot the areas in thousands of square miles of landmasses which exceed 10,000 sqm. Note the use of coord_flip() to rotate the axis so that the x-axis labels do not need to be rotated.

library(tibble)
islands_df <- as.data.frame(islands)
islands_df <- rownames_to_column(islands_df, "name")

ggplot(data = islands_df, aes(x = name, y = islands)) +
  geom_bar(stat = "identity", 
           colour = usq_cols("cool gray"),
           fill = usq_cols("cool gray")) +
  theme_usq() +
  coord_flip()

Using theme_usq() in presentations

The default settings for theme_usq() are fine for printed materials such as reports, but if you wish to use it in a presentation you can use the ggplot2 option base_size = to increase the size of the fonts, points and lines in the graphs.

Example 8: Using ggplot2's base_size() with theme_usq()

As an example, using base_size = 24 helps ensure that the graphs are legible on a standard sized PowerPoint slide when exported at a size of 33.87mm x 19.05mm, using ggsave(), for a 16x9 presentation slide that fills the whole slide.

p8 <-  ggplot(data = mpg, aes(x = class, y = hwy)) +
  geom_boxplot(fill = usq_cols("usq charcoal"),
               colour = usq_palette("usq charcoal"),
               alpha = 0.75) +
  theme_usq(base_size = 24) +
  theme(axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 45, hjust = 1))

ggsave("slide_p7.png", width = 33.87, height = 19.05, units = "cm",
       dpi = 150)

adamhsparks/theme_usq documentation built on Nov. 18, 2020, 3:50 a.m.