randplot

randplot is an R package that provides a ggplot2 theme and color palettes for making graphics in the style of RAND's Communications Design team.

Installation

Install from GitHub using devtools:

# install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("RANDCorporation/randplot")

Update an existing installation with:

devtools::update_packages(repos = "RANDCorporation/randplot")

Fonts

randplot uses ABC Monument Grotesk when available. If Monument Grotesk isn't configured, it falls back to Inter (loaded automatically from Google Fonts via the showtext package). If showtext isn't installed, it falls back to the system sans-serif.

To configure the font, call rand_font_setup() once with the path to your DINAMO font download (either the zip archive or the extracted folder):

rand_font_setup("~/Downloads/DINAMO Order 2023-1505603.zip")
# or
rand_font_setup("~/fonts/Monument Grotesk/")

After that, randplot loads the font automatically every time the package loads — no further setup needed. Check the active font at any time with rand_font().

Theme

Apply RAND's visual style to any ggplot with theme_rand():

library(ggplot2)
library(randplot)

ggplot(iris, aes(x = Sepal.Length, y = Sepal.Width, color = Species)) +
  geom_point(size = 2, alpha = 0.8) +
  scale_color_manual(values = RandCatPal) +
  labs(
    title = "Iris sepal dimensions by species",
    x = "Sepal length (cm)",
    y = "Sepal width (cm)"
  ) +
  theme_rand()

Color Palettes

randplot ships three palette categories matching RAND's brand guidelines. Pass any palette to scale_color_manual() or scale_fill_manual(). Do not mix colors from multiple palettes in a single chart. Preview any palette by name with show_rand_pal("RandCatPal").

Categorical — RandCatPal

Nine colorblind-safe colors for discrete, unordered groups:

scale_color_manual(values = RandCatPal)

Sequential

Four palettes for ordered data (low to high). Use with scale_color_gradientn() for continuous data, or index into specific stops for discrete ordered groups:

Palette	Range
RandSeqYellowBluePal	yellow → blue
RandSeqYellowPurplePal	yellow → purple
RandSeqBluePal	light blue → ink
RandSeqPinkPurplePal	pink → purple

ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = wt, y = mpg, color = hp)) +
  geom_point(size = 3) +
  scale_color_gradientn(colors = RandSeqBluePal) +
  labs(title = "Fuel efficiency by weight and horsepower",
       x = "Weight (1,000 lbs)", y = "Miles per gallon", color = "Horsepower") +
  theme_rand()

Diverging

Four palettes for data centered on a meaningful midpoint. The two ends are distinct hues; the center is neutral:

Palette	Range
RandDivTealOrangePal	teal → orange
RandDivBlueOrangePal	blue → orange
RandDivSteelSalmonPal	steel → salmon
RandDivInkSalmonPal	ink → salmon (digital only)

ggplot(div_data, aes(x = change, y = region, fill = change)) +
  geom_col() +
  scale_fill_gradientn(colors = RandDivTealOrangePal, limits = c(-6, 6), guide = "none") +
  labs(title = "Change from national average (%)", x = NULL, y = NULL) +
  theme_rand()

OKLCH interpolation with rand_pal_n()

rand_pal_n(palette, n) generates any number of colors by interpolating a palette's 9 stops in OKLCH space — the same perceptually uniform color space RAND's brand team uses:

# 5-step discrete scale
scale_color_manual(values = rand_pal_n(RandSeqBluePal, 5))

# Smooth 256-step continuous gradient
scale_fill_gradientn(colors = rand_pal_n(RandSeqYellowBluePal, 256))

Gray palette — RandGrayPal

Nine standardized gray shades for chart elements (grid lines, text, backgrounds):

RandGrayPal[2]   # grid lines (#d7d7d7)
RandGrayPal[9]   # body text (#333333)

Customizing themes

Layer a theme() call after theme_rand() to override specific elements:

theme_rand() +
  theme(
    panel.grid.major.y = element_blank(),
    panel.grid.major.x = element_line(color = RandGrayPal[2])
  )

See the ggplot2 theme documentation for all available options.

License

randplot is licensed under the MIT license.