Setting color and fill Scales

This lesson is called Setting color and fill Scales, part of the Fundamentals of R course. This lesson is called Setting color and fill Scales, part of the Fundamentals of R course.

Transcript

Click on the transcript to go to that point in the video. Please note that transcripts are auto generated and may contain minor inaccuracies.

View code shown in video

# Load Packages -----------------------------------------------------------

library(tidyverse)

# Import Data -------------------------------------------------------------

penguins <- read_csv("penguins.csv")

penguin_bill_length_by_island <-
  penguins |>
  group_by(island) |>
  summarize(mean_bill_length = mean(bill_length_mm, na.rm = TRUE)) |>
  arrange(mean_bill_length)

# Setting color and fill Scales -------------------------------------------

# We can change the color or fill scale using a scale function.

# The function scale_color_manual() allows us to manually specify colors to use.

ggplot(
  data = penguins,
  mapping = aes(
    x = bill_length_mm,
    y = bill_depth_mm,
    color = island
  )
) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_manual(
    values = c(
      "orange",
      "dodgerblue",
      "green"
    )
  )

# We can also use built-in palettes.

# The scale_color_viridis_d() function (the d means it works with discrete data)
# is a great way to get colorblind-friendly palettes.

ggplot(
  data = penguins,
  mapping = aes(
    x = bill_length_mm,
    y = bill_depth_mm,
    color = island
  )
) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_viridis_d()

# The scale_color_viridis_d() function also has several built-in palettes.
# You can use them as follows.

ggplot(
  data = penguins,
  mapping = aes(
    x = bill_length_mm,
    y = bill_depth_mm,
    color = island
  )
) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_viridis_d(option = "H")

# We can use scale_fill_viridis_d() for the fill aesthetic property.

ggplot(
  data = penguin_bill_length_by_island,
  mapping = aes(
    x = island,
    y = mean_bill_length,
    fill = island
  )
) +
  geom_col() +
  scale_fill_viridis_d()

ggplot(
  data = penguin_bill_length_by_island,
  mapping = aes(
    x = island,
    y = mean_bill_length,
    fill = mean_bill_length
  )
) +
  geom_col() +
  scale_fill_viridis_c()

ggplot(
  data = penguins,
  mapping = aes(
    x = bill_length_mm,
    y = bill_depth_mm,
    color = bill_depth_mm
  )
) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_viridis_c()

Your Turn

Solution

# Load Packages -----------------------------------------------------------

library(tidyverse)

# Import Data -------------------------------------------------------------

penguins <- read_csv("penguins.csv")

penguins_by_species <-
  penguins |>
  count(species)

# Setting color and fill Scales -------------------------------------------

# Take your scatterplot that you just made and add a scale using scale_color_manual().
# You can find a list of all colors you can use here:
# https://www.datanovia.com/en/blog/awesome-list-of-657-r-color-names/

ggplot(
  data = penguins,
  mapping = aes(
    x = flipper_length_mm,
    y = body_mass_g,
    color = island
  )
) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_manual(
    values = c(
      "red",
      "blue",
      "green"
    )
  )

# Now update the last bar chart you made by manually specifying colors of the bars

ggplot(
  data = penguins_by_species,
  mapping = aes(
    x = species,
    y = n,
    fill = species
  )
) +
  geom_col() +
  scale_fill_manual(
    values = c(
      "red",
      "blue",
      "green"
    )
  )

# Update your bar chart using the scale_fill_viridis_d() function instead of
# scale_fill_manual()

ggplot(
  data = penguins_by_species,
  mapping = aes(
    x = species,
    y = n,
    fill = species
  )
) +
  geom_col() +
  scale_fill_viridis_d()

# Load Packages -----------------------------------------------------------

library(tidyverse)

# Import Data -------------------------------------------------------------

penguins <- read_csv("penguins.csv")
			
# Setting color and fill Scales -------------------------------------------

# Take your scatterplot that you just made and add a scale using scale_color_manual(). 
# You can find a list of all colors you can use here:
# https://www.datanovia.com/en/blog/awesome-list-of-657-r-color-names/

# YOUR CODE HERE

# Now update the last bar chart you made by manually specifying colors of the bars

# YOUR CODE HERE

# Update your bar chart using the scale_fill_viridis_d() function instead of
# scale_fill_manual()

# YOUR CODE HERE

Learn More

You can see a list of all named colors here.

There are a lot of other packages that give you color/fill palettes you can work with. See especially the paleteer package, which is a meta palette package, give you access to palettes from many other packages.

Setting color and fill Scales

Transcript

Your Turn

Solution

Learn More

Have any questions? Put them below and we will help you out!

Course Content