README.md
In jmaasch/ashR: Interpolated Color Palettes for Data Visualization

`ashR`

`ashR` (ash-er): Bespoke interpolated color palettes for data visualization in R.

Built by JRMA Maasch (2020).

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About | Accessibility | License
Usage | Installation | Documentation | Use with ggplot2 | Use with base R
View demo plots | Autumn | Sea | Earth | Berry

This package provides 60 made-to-order discrete color palettes in an interpolated range. These low-contrast color palettes are intended for use cases in which subtle variation is desired. Note: This package is currently under development.

Bespoke color palette packages can expedite data visualization tasks. If you would like your own bespoke package, message me at www.linkedin.com/in/jmaasch.

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These color palettes were commissioned by a data scientist with color blindness, though we cannot guarantee usefulness for all individuals with color blindness.

This package is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3).

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# Install development version.
# Note: the package devtools must be installed but need not be loaded.
devtools::install_github("jmaasch/ashR")

# Load package.
library(ashR)

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Precede any function by a question mark to access description, arguments, return value, and usage suggestions. Vignette and further documentation coming soon.

# Access function documentation.
?ashR.autumn()

This package contains 4 "classes" of palettes: autumn, berry, earth, and sea. Each "class" contains 5 palettes (1 through 5) available in three lengths (3, 5, and 8), such that berry palette 1.8 is the 8-hue version of the 5-hue berry palette 1.5. All palettes are stored in exported lists:

> names(autumn)
 [1] "1.8" "2.8" "3.8" "4.8" "5.8" "1.5" "2.5" "3.5" "4.5" "5.5" "1.3" "2.3" "3.3" "4.3" "5.3"
> names(berry)
 [1] "1.8" "2.8" "3.8" "4.8" "5.8" "1.5" "2.5" "3.5" "4.5" "5.5" "1.3" "2.3" "3.3" "4.3" "5.3"
> names(earth)
 [1] "1.8" "2.8" "3.8" "4.8" "5.8" "1.5" "2.5" "3.5" "4.5" "5.5" "1.3" "2.3" "3.3" "4.3" "5.3"
> names(sea)
 [1] "1.8" "2.8" "3.8" "4.8" "5.8" "1.5" "2.5" "3.5" "4.5" "5.5" "1.3" "2.3" "3.3" "4.3" "5.3"

To use a palette, pass the desired palette name as a string to one of the following functions:

autumn_palette <- ashR.autumn("1.3")
berry_palette <- ashR.berry("2.5")
earth_palette <- ashR.earth("1.8")
sea_palette <- ashR.sea("4.3")

Demo plots can be viewed by invoking ashR.autumn.demo(), ashR.berry.demo(), ashR.earth.demo(), and ashR.sea.demo() functions. Valid inputs include any single palette name as a string (e.g. "1.5") or "all" to print demo plots for all palettes. All demo plots can be viewed here.

ashR.autumn.demo("1.3")
ashR.berry.demo("all")

Hexadecimal color codes are accessible as shown below. Demo plots also feature hexadecimal legends for convenience. Hex values may be "cherry-picked" to create custom palettes.

> ashR.autumn("1.5")
[1] "#9F2700FF" "#B25233FF" "#C57D66FF" "#D8A899FF" "#EBD3CCFF"

> ashR.sea("1.3")[1]
[1] "#0D2B52FF"

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Use with `ggplot2`

The following reproducible example produces the plots below.


density_plot <- ggplot(diamonds, aes(carat, fill = cut)) +
                geom_density(position = "stack") +
                theme_classic() +
                xlim(0, 3) +
                scale_fill_manual(values = ashR.earth("5.5")) +
                theme(axis.title = element_blank(),
                      legend.position = "none") +
                labs(title = "Earth 5.5")

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The following reproducible example produces the plot at right.


# Construct toy data.
set.seed(5)
y1 <- cumsum(rnorm(100))
set.seed(19)
y2 <- cumsum(rnorm(100))
set.seed(24)
y3 <- cumsum(rnorm(100))

# Construct line plot.
plot(y1, 
     type = "l", 
     xlim = c(0, 100),
     ylim = c(-15, 15),
     xlab = "", 
     ylab = "", 
     col = ashR.berry("2.3")[1],
     lty = 1,
     lwd = 2,
     main = "Berry 2.3")
lines(y2, 
      type = "l", 
      col = ashR.berry("2.3")[2], 
      lty = 3,
      lwd = 3)
lines(y3, 
      type = "l", 
      col = ashR.berry("2.3")[3],
      lty = 5,
      lwd = 2)

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