Make it your own

Tips & trick for stand-out dataviz with R and ggplot2
Cara R Thompson, PhD
26th March 2026

Hello đź‘‹

đź‘© Cara Thompson

👩‍💻 Love for patterns in music & language, and a fascination with the human brain %>%

       Psychology PhD %>%

       Analysis of postgraduate medical examinations %>%

       Data Visualisation Consultant


đź’™ Helping others maximise the impact of their expertise

Find out more: cararthompson.com/about

How did I end up here?

How did I end up here?


How did I end up here?


www.cararthompson.com/portfolio

Why dataviz?

I’m planning an expedition to the islands where the Palmer Penguins live. I need to see at least 2 penguin species on my trip, but I can only go to one island.


I’m terrified of penguins with long beaks.


Help me plan my trip. You can only show me one slide.

Why dataviz?

“We have collected data about 344 penguins who live on Biscoe, Dream and Torgersen. On Biscoe, we have 44 Adelie penguins (F = 22, M = 22) and 124 Gentoos (F = 58, M = 61, Unknown = 5). On Dream, we have 56 Adelie penguins (F = 27, M = 28, Unknown = 1) and 68 Chinstrap penguins (M = F = 34). On Torgersen, we only have Adelies (F = 24, M = 23, Unknown = 5).

The average beak lengths of the species are as follows:

  • Adelie: F: 37.55 mm, M: 40.59mm
  • Chinstrap: F: 46.57mm, M: 51.09mm
  • Gentoo: F: 45.59mm, M: 49.47mm

Have a nice trip!”

Why dataviz?

“Does this help?”

Why dataviz?

“Ok, let me reorganise it a bit”

Why dataviz?

“Look, the data really speaks for itself… Here you go!”

Why dataviz better?

Visualise

What’s the best way to visualise the story?

Chester Zoo is welcoming some new penguins from Edinburgh Zoo. The keepers are a bit nervous about how the penguins will all get on.

They get quite competitive within each species about their beak lengths.

If we can see which penguin is which, even better!

Illustration by Allison Horst

What’s the best way to visualise the story?

  • Range of beak (culmen) lengths
  • All three species separately
  • Some appreciation of outliers
  • A way of identifying the penguins

What’s the best way to visualise the story?

library(ggplot2)
library(tidyverse)

palmerpenguins::penguins |>
  dplyr::group_by(species) |>
  summarise(mean_beak_length = mean(bill_length_mm, na.rm = TRUE)) |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_bar(
    aes(x = species, y = mean_beak_length, fill = species),
    stat = "identity"
  )

What’s the best way to visualise the story?

library(ggplot2)
library(tidyverse)

palmerpenguins::penguins |>
  dplyr::group_by(species) |>
  summarise(mean_beak_length = mean(bill_length_mm, na.rm = TRUE)) |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_bar(
    aes(y = species, x = mean_beak_length, fill = species),
    stat = "identity"
  ) +
  theme(legend.position = "none")

What’s the best way to visualise the story?

library(ggplot2)
library(tidyverse)

palmerpenguins::penguins |>
  ggplot(aes(y = species, x = bill_length_mm, fill = species)) +
  geom_boxplot(
    outlier.colour = "red",
    outlier.shape = 8,
    outlier.size = 4
  ) +
  theme(legend.position = "none", axis.title.y = element_blank())

Our starting point

Let’s make a better graph!

penguin_df <- palmerpenguins::penguins_raw |>
  janitor::clean_names() |>
  dplyr::filter(!is.na(culmen_length_mm))

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_point(aes(
    x = culmen_length_mm,
    y = species
  ))

Our starting point

Avoid all the overlaps

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species
    )
  )

Our starting point

Make the grouping clear, and only jitter what doesn’t matter!

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species
    ),
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15
  )

Our starting point

Add a few layers of meaning…

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15
  )

Our starting point

Add a few layers of meaning…

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15
  )

Our starting point

theme_minimal()

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15
  ) +
  theme_minimal()

Our starting point

theme_minimal()

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15
  ) +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 20)

Our starting point

Move the legend

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15
  ) +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 20) +
  theme(legend.position = "bottom")

Optimise!

Colours, text, annotations

Better colours

  • Accessible
  • Semantically relevant
  • Um…

Starting with the same letter(ish)

Better colours

Blending in a common colour

Better colours

Blending in a common colour - {monochromeR}

🔍 - #6b2c91

Better colours

Blending in a common colour - {monochromeR}

penguin_colours <- c(
  "Adelie" = "orange",
  "Chinstrap" = "pink",
  "Gentoo" = "darkgreen"
)

monochromeR::view_palette(penguin_colours)

penguin_colours <- c(
  "Adelie" = "#E18C1C",
  "Chinstrap" = "#E8A9C2",
  "Gentoo" = "#2A483E"
)

monochromeR::view_palette(penguin_colours)

Better colours

It’s subtle… Wait for it!

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15
  ) +
  scale_fill_manual(values = c("orange", "pink", "darkgreen")) +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 20) +
  theme(legend.position = "bottom")

Better colours

It’s subtle… Wait for it!

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15
  ) +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 20) +
  theme(legend.position = "bottom")

Oops!

Named vector needs to match the data!

penguin_colours <- c(
  "Adelie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae)" = "#E18C1C",
  "Chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica)" = "#E8A9C2",
  "Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua)" = "#2A483E"
)

monochromeR::view_palette(penguin_colours)

Better colours

It’s subtle… Wait for it!

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15
  ) +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 20) +
  theme(legend.position = "bottom")

Better colours

It’s subtle… One last thing for now

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 20) +
  theme(legend.position = "bottom")

Better text

Did we need the legend? (maybe later?)

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 20) +
  theme(legend.position = "none")

Better text

Or the axis titles?

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 20) +
  theme(legend.position = "none", axis.title = element_blank())

Better text

What about a title?

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 20) +
  theme(legend.position = "none", axis.title = element_blank())

Better text

Let’s be helpful

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 20) +
  theme(legend.position = "none", axis.title = element_blank())

Better text

Sort out the y axis text

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 20) +
  theme(legend.position = "none", axis.title = element_blank())

Better text

Better text

Personality

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 20) +
  theme(
    text = element_text(family = "Open Sans"),
    legend.position = "none",
    axis.title = element_blank(),
    plot.title = element_text(family = "Domine")
  )

Better text

Personality + hierarchy

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 20) +
  theme(
    text = element_text(family = "Open Sans"),
    legend.position = "none",
    axis.title = element_blank(),
    plot.title = element_text(
      family = "Domine",
      face = "bold",
      size = 30
    )
  )

Better text

Personality + hierarchy (better!)

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 20) +
  theme(
    text = element_text(family = "Open Sans"),
    legend.position = "none",
    axis.title = element_blank(),
    plot.title = element_text(
      family = "Domine",
      face = "bold",
      size = rel(1.5)
    )
  )

Better text

Personality + hierarchy + colour

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 20) +
  theme(
    text = element_text(family = "Open Sans", colour = "#534959"),
    axis.text = element_text(colour = "#534959"),
    legend.position = "none",
    axis.title = element_blank(),
    plot.title = element_text(
      family = "Domine",
      face = "bold",
      size = rel(1.5),
      colour = "#15081D"
    )
  )

Getting fonts to work in R

Getting fonts to work can be frustrating!

Install fonts locally, restart R Studio + 📦 {systemfonts} ({ragg} + {textshaping}) + Set graphics device to “AGG” + 🤞


knitr::opts_chunk$set(dev = “ragg_png”)

👉 Blog post

Optimise the small things

Background, grid, margins…

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 20) +
  theme(
    text = element_text(family = "Open Sans", colour = "#534959"),
    axis.text = element_text(colour = "#534959"),
    legend.position = "none",
    axis.title = element_blank(),
    plot.title.position = "plot",
    plot.title = element_text(
      family = "Domine",
      face = "bold",
      size = rel(1.5),
      colour = "#15081D",
      margin = margin(0, 0, 20, 0)
    ),
    panel.grid = element_line(colour = "#FFFFFF"),
    plot.background = element_rect(fill = "#f9f5fc", colour = "#f9f5fc"),
    plot.margin = margin_auto(30)
  )

Helping your future self

We can turn all that styling into a theme function!

plot +
  theme_minimal(base_size = 20) +
  theme(
    text = element_text(family = "Open Sans", colour = "#534959"),
    axis.text = element_text(colour = "#534959"),
    legend.position = "none",
    axis.title = element_blank(),
    plot.title.position = "plot",
    plot.title = element_text(
      family = "Domine",
      face = "bold",
      size = rel(1.5), 
      colour = "#15081D",
      margin = margin(0, 0, 20, 0)
    ),
    panel.grid = element_line(colour = "#FFFFFF"),
    plot.background = element_rect(fill = "#f9f5fc", colour = "#f9f5fc"),
    plot.margin = margin_auto(30)
  )

Helping your future self

We can turn all that styling into a theme function!

theme_chester_penguins <- function(base_text_size = 20) {
  theme_minimal(base_size = base_text_size) +
    theme(
      text = element_text(family = "Open Sans", colour = "#534959"),
      axis.text = element_text(colour = "#534959"),
      legend.position = "none",
      axis.title = element_blank(),
      plot.title.position = "plot",
      plot.title = ggtext::element_textbox_simple(
        family = "Domine",
        face = "bold",
        size = rel(1.5),
        colour = "#15081D",
        margin = margin(0, 0, base_text_size, 0)
          ),
      panel.grid = element_line(colour = "#FFFFFF"),
      plot.background = element_rect(fill = "#f9f5fc", colour = "#f9f5fc"),
      plot.margin = margin_auto(base_text_size * 1.5),
      geom = element_geom(ink = "#6b2c91")
    )
}

Helping your future self

Plot

ggplot(penguin_df) +
  geom_point(
    aes(x = flipper_length_mm, y = culmen_length_mm),
    size = 6,
    alpha = 0.9
  ) +
  labs(title = "Perfectly proportional penguins")

Helping your future self

Plot + theme_chester_penguins()

ggplot(penguin_df) +
  geom_point(
    aes(x = flipper_length_mm, y = culmen_length_mm),
    size = 6,
    alpha = 0.9
  ) +
  labs(title = "Perfectly proportional penguins") +
  theme_chester_penguins()

Helping your future self

Plot

ggplot(penguin_df) +
  geom_bar(aes(x = island), stat = "count") +
  labs(title = "But the island populations are really quite different")

Helping your future self

Plots + theme_chester_penguins() (or theme_{your-research-group}()?)

ggplot(penguin_df) +
  geom_bar(aes(x = island), stat = "count") +
  labs(title = "But the island populations are really quite different") +
  theme_chester_penguins()

Shameless plug alert!

Plots + theme_{your-research-group}()?

Shameless plug alert!

Plots + theme_{your-research-group}()?

<www.cararthompson.com/dataviz-design-systems-explained>

Shameless plug alert!

Plots + theme_{your-research-group}()?

<www.cararthompson.com/dataviz-design-systems-explained>

Annotations

  • Main story (range)
  • Means within each group

Annotations

Highlight the overall range…

beak_range_df <- penguin_df |>
  dplyr::filter(
    culmen_length_mm == max(culmen_length_mm, na.rm = TRUE) |
      culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm, na.rm = TRUE)
  )

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  geom_vline(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(xintercept = culmen_length_mm),
    linetype = 3
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
  theme_chester_penguins()

Annotations

Move to background + change colour

penguin_df |>
  ggplot() +
  geom_vline(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(xintercept = culmen_length_mm),
    linetype = 3,
    colour = "#333333"
  ) +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
  theme_chester_penguins()

Annotations

Add labels 

penguin_df |>
  ggplot(aes(x = culmen_length_mm, y = species)) +
  geom_vline(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(xintercept = culmen_length_mm),
    linetype = 3,
    colour = "#333333"
  ) +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  ggtext::geom_textbox(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(label = paste0(culmen_length_mm, "mm"))
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
  theme_chester_penguins()

Annotations

Add labels

penguin_df |>
  ggplot(aes(x = culmen_length_mm, y = species)) +
  geom_vline(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(xintercept = culmen_length_mm),
    linetype = 3,
    colour = "#333333"
  ) +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  ggtext::geom_textbox(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(label = paste0(culmen_length_mm, "mm")),
    family = "Open Sans",
    halign = 0.5,
    colour = "#333333",
    fill = NA
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
  theme_chester_penguins()

Annotations

Shift them out of the way of the data

penguin_df |>
  ggplot(aes(x = culmen_length_mm, y = species)) +
  geom_vline(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(xintercept = culmen_length_mm),
    linetype = 3,
    colour = "#333333"
  ) +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  ggtext::geom_textbox(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(y = max(species), label = paste0(culmen_length_mm, "mm")),
    family = "Open Sans",
    halign = 0.5,
    colour = "#333333",
    fill = NA,
    nudge_y = 0.33
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
  theme_chester_penguins()

Annotations

Align them sensibly

penguin_df |>
  ggplot(aes(x = culmen_length_mm, y = species)) +
  geom_vline(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(xintercept = culmen_length_mm),
    linetype = 3,
    colour = "#333333"
  ) +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  ggtext::geom_textbox(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(
      y = max(species),
      label = paste0(culmen_length_mm, "mm"),
      hjust = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~ 0,
        TRUE ~ 1
      ),
      halign = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~ 0,
        TRUE ~ 1
      )
    ),
    family = "Open Sans",
    colour = "#333333",
    fill = NA,
    nudge_y = 0.33
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
  theme_chester_penguins()

Annotations

Boldify

penguin_df |>
  ggplot(aes(x = culmen_length_mm, y = species)) +
  geom_vline(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(xintercept = culmen_length_mm),
    linetype = 3,
    colour = "#333333"
  ) +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  ggtext::geom_textbox(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(
      y = max(species),
      label = paste0(culmen_length_mm, "mm"),
      hjust = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~ 0,
        TRUE ~ 1
      ),
      halign = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~ 0,
        TRUE ~ 1
      )
    ),
    family = "Open Sans",
    colour = "#333333",
    fontface = "bold",
    fill = NA,
    nudge_y = 0.33
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
  theme_chester_penguins()

Annotations

Improve even more!

penguin_df |>
  ggplot(aes(x = culmen_length_mm, y = species)) +
  geom_vline(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(xintercept = culmen_length_mm),
    linetype = 3,
    colour = "#333333"
  ) +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  ggtext::geom_textbox(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(
      y = max(species),
      label = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~
          paste0("🞀 ", culmen_length_mm, "mm"),
        TRUE ~ paste0(culmen_length_mm, "mm", " đźž‚")
      ),
      hjust = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~ 0,
        TRUE ~ 1
      ),
      halign = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~ 0,
        TRUE ~ 1
      )
    ),
    family = "Open Sans",
    colour = "#333333",
    fontface = "bold",
    fill = NA,
    nudge_y = 0.33
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
  theme_chester_penguins()

Annotations

Improve even more!

penguin_df |>
  ggplot(aes(x = culmen_length_mm, y = species)) +
  geom_vline(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(xintercept = culmen_length_mm),
    linetype = 3,
    colour = "#333333"
  ) +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  ggtext::geom_textbox(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(
      y = max(species),
      label = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~
          paste0("🞀 ", culmen_length_mm, "mm"),
        TRUE ~ paste0(culmen_length_mm, "mm", " đźž‚")
      ),
      hjust = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~ 0,
        TRUE ~ 1
      ),
      halign = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~ 0,
        TRUE ~ 1
      )
    ),
    family = "Open Sans",
    colour = "#333333",
    fontface = "bold",
    fill = NA,
    box.padding = unit(0, "pt"),
    size = 5,
    box.colour = NA,
    nudge_y = 0.33
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
  theme_chester_penguins()

Annotations

And let’s add a bit more data…

beak_means_df <- penguin_df |>
  dplyr::group_by(species) |>
  dplyr::summarise(mean_length = mean(culmen_length_mm, na.rm = TRUE))

penguin_df |>
  ggplot(aes(x = culmen_length_mm, y = species)) +
  geom_vline(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(xintercept = culmen_length_mm),
    linetype = 3,
    colour = "#333333"
  ) +
  geom_segment(
    data = beak_means_df,
    aes(x = mean_length, xend = mean_length, y = -Inf, yend = species),
    linetype = 3
  ) +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  ggtext::geom_textbox(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(
      y = max(species),
      label = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~
          paste0("🞀 ", culmen_length_mm, "mm"),
        TRUE ~ paste0(culmen_length_mm, "mm", " đźž‚")
      ),
      hjust = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~ 0,
        TRUE ~ 1
      ),
      halign = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~ 0,
        TRUE ~ 1
      )
    ),
    family = "Open Sans",
    colour = "#333333",
    fontface = "bold",
    fill = NA,
    box.padding = unit(0, "pt"),
    size = 5,
    box.colour = NA,
    nudge_y = 0.33
  ) +
  ggtext::geom_textbox(
    data = beak_means_df,
    aes(
      x = mean_length,
      y = species,
      label = paste0(
        species,
        " mean<br>**",
        janitor::round_half_up(mean_length),
        "mm**"
      )
    ),
    hjust = 0,
    nudge_y = -0.4,
    box.colour = NA,
    family = "Open Sans",
    colour = "#333333",
    fill = "#f9f5fc"
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
  theme_chester_penguins()

Annotations

And we can get rid of the y axis!

penguin_df |>
  ggplot(aes(x = culmen_length_mm, y = species)) +
  geom_vline(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(xintercept = culmen_length_mm),
    linetype = 3,
    colour = "#333333"
  ) +
  geom_segment(
    data = beak_means_df,
    aes(x = mean_length, xend = mean_length, y = -Inf, yend = species),
    linetype = 3
  ) +
  geom_jitter(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  ggtext::geom_textbox(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(
      y = max(species),
      label = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~
          paste0("🞀 ", culmen_length_mm, "mm"),
        TRUE ~ paste0(culmen_length_mm, "mm", " đźž‚")
      ),
      hjust = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~ 0,
        TRUE ~ 1
      ),
      halign = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~ 0,
        TRUE ~ 1
      )
    ),
    family = "Open Sans",
    colour = "#333333",
    fontface = "bold",
    fill = NA,
    box.padding = unit(0, "pt"),
    size = 5,
    box.colour = NA,
    nudge_y = 0.33
  ) +
  ggtext::geom_textbox(
    data = beak_means_df,
    aes(
      x = mean_length,
      y = species,
      label = paste0(
        species,
        " mean<br>**",
        janitor::round_half_up(mean_length),
        "mm**"
      )
    ),
    hjust = 0,
    nudge_y = -0.4,
    box.colour = NA,
    family = "Open Sans",
    colour = "#333333",
    fill = "#f9f5fc"
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
  theme_chester_penguins() +
  theme(axis.text.y = element_blank())

Can we make it interactive?

It’s easier than you think!

Can we make it interactive?

interactive_plot <- penguin_df |>
  ggplot(aes(x = culmen_length_mm, y = species)) +
  geom_vline(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(xintercept = culmen_length_mm),
    linetype = 3,
    colour = "#333333"
  ) +
  geom_segment(
    data = beak_means_df,
    aes(x = mean_length, xend = mean_length, y = -Inf, yend = species),
    linetype = 3
  ) +
  ggiraph::geom_jitter_interactive(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g,
      tooltip = paste0("<b>", individual_id, "</b> from ", island)
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  ggtext::geom_textbox(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(
      y = max(species),
      label = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~
          paste0("🞀 ", culmen_length_mm, "mm"),
        TRUE ~ paste0(culmen_length_mm, "mm", " đźž‚")
      ),
      hjust = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~ 0,
        TRUE ~ 1
      ),
      halign = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~ 0,
        TRUE ~ 1
      )
    ),
    family = "Open Sans",
    colour = "#333333",
    fontface = "bold",
    fill = NA,
    box.padding = unit(0, "pt"),
    size = 5,
    box.colour = NA,
    nudge_y = 0.33
  ) +
  ggtext::geom_textbox(
    data = beak_means_df,
    aes(
      x = mean_length,
      y = species,
      label = paste0(
        species,
        " mean<br>**",
        janitor::round_half_up(mean_length),
        "mm**"
      )
    ),
    hjust = 0,
    nudge_y = -0.4,
    box.colour = NA,
    family = "Open Sans",
    colour = "#333333",
    fill = "#f9f5fc"
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
  theme_chester_penguins() +
  theme(axis.text.y = element_blank())

ggiraph::girafe(ggobj = interactive_plot)

Can we make it interactive?

Let’s style that tooltip!

ggiraph::girafe(
  ggobj = interactive_plot,
  options = list(ggiraph::opts_tooltip(
    css = "background-color:#333333;color:#f9f5fc;padding:7.5px;letter-spacing:0.025em;line-height:1.3;border-radius:5px;font-family:Open Sans;"
  ))
)

“Actually, could you just…?”

We want to introduce the penguins in batches

Let’s turn this into a function!

The full code…

penguin_df <- palmerpenguins::penguins_raw |>
  janitor::clean_names() |>
  dplyr::filter(!is.na(culmen_length_mm))

penguin_colours <- c(
  "Adelie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae)" = "#E18C1C",
  "Chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica)" = "#E8A9C2",
  "Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua)" = "#2A483E"
)

beak_means_df <- penguin_df |>
  dplyr::group_by(species) |>
  dplyr::summarise(mean_length = mean(culmen_length_mm, na.rm = TRUE))

beak_range_df <- penguin_df |>
  dplyr::filter(
    culmen_length_mm == max(culmen_length_mm, na.rm = TRUE) |
      culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm, na.rm = TRUE)
  )

interactive_plot <- penguin_df |>
  ggplot(aes(x = culmen_length_mm, y = species)) +
  geom_vline(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(xintercept = culmen_length_mm),
    linetype = 3,
    colour = "#333333"
  ) +
  geom_segment(
    data = beak_means_df,
    aes(x = mean_length, xend = mean_length, y = -Inf, yend = species),
    linetype = 3
  ) +
  ggiraph::geom_jitter_interactive(
    aes(
      x = culmen_length_mm,
      y = species,
      fill = species,
      size = body_mass_g,
      tooltip = paste0("<b>", individual_id, "</b> from ", island)
    ),
    shape = 21,
    width = 0,
    height = 0.15,
    colour = "#333333",
    stroke = 0.5
  ) +
  ggtext::geom_textbox(
    data = beak_range_df,
    aes(
      y = max(species),
      label = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~
          paste0("🞀 ", culmen_length_mm, "mm"),
        TRUE ~ paste0(culmen_length_mm, "mm", " đźž‚")
      ),
      hjust = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~ 0,
        TRUE ~ 1
      ),
      halign = dplyr::case_when(
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~ 0,
        TRUE ~ 1
      )
    ),
    family = "Open Sans",
    colour = "#333333",
    fontface = "bold",
    fill = NA,
    box.padding = unit(0, "pt"),
    size = 5,
    box.colour = NA,
    nudge_y = 0.33
  ) +
  ggtext::geom_textbox(
    data = beak_means_df,
    aes(
      x = mean_length,
      y = species,
      label = paste0(
        species,
        " mean<br>**",
        janitor::round_half_up(mean_length),
        "mm**"
      )
    ),
    hjust = 0,
    nudge_y = -0.4,
    box.colour = NA,
    family = "Open Sans",
    colour = "#333333",
    fill = "#f9f5fc"
  ) +
  labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = penguin_colours) +
  scale_x_continuous(label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm")) +
  scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
  theme_chester_penguins() +
  theme(axis.text.y = element_blank())

ggiraph::girafe(ggobj = interactive_plot)

Let’s turn this into a function!

One technicality and two design decisions

penguin_df <- palmerpenguins::penguins_raw |>
  janitor::clean_names() |>
  dplyr::filter(!is.na(culmen_length_mm))

penguin_colours <- c(
  "Adelie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae)" = "#E18C1C",
  "Chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica)" = "#E8A9C2",
  "Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua)" = "#2A483E"
)

make_beak_off_plot <- function(
  df = penguin_df,
  palette = penguin_colours) {
  beak_means_df <- df |>
    dplyr::group_by(species) |>
    dplyr::summarise(mean_length = mean(culmen_length_mm, na.rm = TRUE))

  beak_range_df <- df |>
    dplyr::filter(
      culmen_length_mm == max(culmen_length_mm, na.rm = TRUE) |
        culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm, na.rm = TRUE)
    )

  interactive_plot <- df |>
    ggplot(aes(x = culmen_length_mm, y = species)) +
    geom_vline(
      data = beak_range_df,
      aes(xintercept = culmen_length_mm),
      linetype = 3,
      colour = "#333333"
    ) +
    geom_segment(
      data = beak_means_df,
      aes(x = mean_length, xend = mean_length, y = -Inf, yend = species),
      linetype = 3
    ) +
    ggiraph::geom_jitter_interactive(
      aes(
        x = culmen_length_mm,
        y = species,
        fill = species,
        size = body_mass_g,
        tooltip = paste0("<b>", individual_id, "</b> from ", island)
      ),
      shape = 21,
      width = 0,
      height = 0.15,
      colour = "#333333",
      stroke = 0.5
    ) +
    ggtext::geom_textbox(
      data = beak_range_df,
      aes(
        y = max(df$species),
        label = dplyr::case_when(
          culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~
            paste0("🞀 ", culmen_length_mm, "mm"),
          TRUE ~ paste0(culmen_length_mm, "mm", " đźž‚")
        ),
        hjust = dplyr::case_when(
          culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~ 0,
          TRUE ~ 1
        ),
        halign = dplyr::case_when(
          culmen_length_mm == min(culmen_length_mm) ~ 0,
          TRUE ~ 1
        )
      ),
      family = "Open Sans",
      colour = "#333333",
      fontface = "bold",
      fill = NA,
      box.padding = unit(0, "pt"),
      size = 5,
      box.colour = NA,
      nudge_y = 0.33
    ) +
    ggtext::geom_textbox(
      data = beak_means_df,
      aes(
        x = mean_length,
        y = species,
        label = paste0(
          species,
          " mean<br>**",
          janitor::round_half_up(mean_length),
          "mm**"
        )
      ),
      hjust = 0,
      nudge_y = -0.4,
      box.colour = NA,
      family = "Open Sans",
      colour = "#333333",
      fill = "#f9f5fc"
    ) +
    labs(title = "Beak lengths by species") +
    scale_fill_manual(values = palette) +
    scale_x_continuous(
      label = function(x) paste0(x, "mm"), 
      limits = range(palmerpenguins::penguins_raw$`Culmen Length (mm)`, na.rm = TRUE)
      ) +
    scale_y_discrete(labels = function(x) gsub("(.)( )(.*)", "\\1", x)) +
    theme_chester_penguins() +
    theme(axis.text.y = element_blank())

  ggiraph::girafe(
    ggobj = interactive_plot,
    options = list(ggiraph::opts_tooltip(
      css = "background-color:#333333;color:#f9f5fc;padding:7.5px;letter-spacing:0.025em;line-height:1.3;border-radius:5px;font-family:Open Sans;"
    ))
  )
}

Let’s turn this into a function!

Same graph, different data

make_beak_off_plot(
  df = dplyr::slice_sample(penguin_df, n = 200)
)
make_beak_off_plot(
  df = dplyr::slice_sample(penguin_df, n = 50)
)

Let’s turn this into a function!

Same graph, different data

make_beak_off_plot(
  df = dplyr::slice_sample(penguin_df, n = 150)
)
make_beak_off_plot(
  df = dplyr::slice_sample(penguin_df, n = 90)
)

Where next?

Add some bells and whistles to the function

  • Make light outline for dark dots
  • Rework the x axis
  • Conditional textbox alignments…

Package everything up for easy sharing

  • Dependencies âś…
  • One source of truth 🪄
  • It’s easier than you think!

We’ve already come quite far!

Happy datavizing!

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