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https://github.com/martinctc/ggplot_theme_tester
🎨 A workflow for designing and testing custom ggplot themes
https://github.com/martinctc/ggplot_theme_tester
Last synced: 4 months ago
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🎨 A workflow for designing and testing custom ggplot themes
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/martinctc/ggplot_theme_tester
- Owner: martinctc
- Created: 2020-05-09T17:46:19.000Z (almost 5 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2020-06-13T17:01:36.000Z (over 4 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2024-08-06T03:04:02.989Z (7 months ago)
- Language: R
- Homepage:
- Size: 1.04 MB
- Stars: 32
- Watchers: 5
- Forks: 1
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
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README
# 🎨 ggplot theme tester
## About
The aim of this project is to **optimise a workflow for designing and testing custom ggplot themes in R.**
This project is for you if you are developing ggplot2 themes, or trying to figure out how a theme looks on a variety of plots (or a variety of themes on a plot). This project is built on the `purrr` workflow from this [blog post](https://martinctc.github.io/blog/vignette-generate-your-own-ggplot-theme-gallery/).
Sample output from `theme_executive()`:

---
### Pre-requisites
You don't need much to get started:
- {tidyverse} (essential)
- {patchwork} (essential)
- RStudio (recommended)
- {extrafont} (recommended){extrafont} enables you to use a much wider range of fonts in your ggplots. If you have never initialised {extrafont} before, I recommend you to run the following lines of code. You'll only need to do this once:
```r
install.packages("extrafont")extrafont::font_import()
extrafont::loadfonts(device = "win")
```
This process of loading the fonts can take around 5 minutes, but I assure you it is well worth it.1 After the process is completed, you will just need to load the {extrafont} library with `library(extrafont)` to use the desired fonts in ggplot.---
### Workflow BasicsYou can get started by cloning this repository, using GitHub Desktop or cloning it the traditional way using git. Open the `.Rproj` file in the main directory with RStudio, and open/save your scripts in the `scripts` folder (Don't use `setwd()`!).2
1. Load {tidyverse} and {extrafont} to ensure all ggplot2 features and fonts are available in the design and testing process.
2. Use `source()` to load in the pre-built ggplot objects from the `base_plots` folder. These are basically simple plots created with {ggplot2} to be used for designing and testing the themes you are creating. You can create more complicated base ggplots for testing if you prefer.
3. Create your ggplot theme as a function, and save the R file under "themes". In the main script, use `source()` again to load in the theme you've created.
4. Run the test function to iterate through how your theme would look like with different base plot configurations. In this workflow, I use {patchwork} to combine the plots for easy viewing.
---
### Quick Example
Here is an example using the `theme_dbz()` theme that I used on the plots from my blog post [Data cleaning with Kamehamehas in R](https://martinctc.github.io/blog/data-cleaning-with-kamehamehas-in-r/):
```r
library(tidyverse)
library(patchwork)
library(extrafont)#### Load base plots ####
source("base_plots/base_plots.R")#### Design theme ####
source("themes/theme_dbz.R")#### test themes ####
test_themes <- function(plots,
theme,
theme_label){
plots +
theme +
labs(subtitle = theme_label)
}#### Run plots ####
base_plots %>%
map(test_themes,
theme = theme_dbz(),
theme_label = "theme: theme_dbz()") %>%
reduce(`+`)```
And here is the result:

---
### Theme Gallery
I am using this project for my personal use in developing themes. Please feel free to explore the themes that I am working on:
#### FT Theme (`theme_ft()`)
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
#### Executive Theme (`theme_executive()`)


Apart from themes, another feature that is being incorporated into this workflow is the ability to develop colour palettes. Currently, there is a `brands_pal.R` file that allows you to use the colours of some well-known brands:
##### Microsoft: `scale_colour_brands(palette = "msft")`

##### Instagram: `scale_colour_brands(palette = "ig")`

##### Google: `scale_colour_brands(palette = "google")`

#### Dark DBZ Theme (`theme_dbz()`)
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
#### Economist Theme (`ggthemes::theme_economist()`)
You can also apply this workflow to themes in existing packages. Here is the Economist theme from {ggthemes}
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---
1. For more information on the installation process, please see this Stack Overflow thread: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34522732/changing-fonts-in-ggplot2
2 See https://martinctc.github.io/blog/rstudio-projects-and-working-directories-a-beginner's-guide/.