Giovannelli Lab ggplot2 figure theme

Here the short code we use to draw all our figure in the Giovannelli Lab. It was designed following design principles highlited in the IPCC Visual Style Guide and the suggestions found in the great Nature Methods series Points of View. You can find more information about our laboratory at the lab website www.donatogiovannelli.com.

Design principles

The theme follows the high data-to-ink ratio principles, and plays with salience and the viridis palettes (deafult of the theme) to make sure your data are highlighted in the figure. All unnecessary elements are removed.

theme_glab <- function(base_size = 12,
                    base_family = "",
                    base_line_size = base_size / 180,
                    base_rect_size = base_size / 180) {
    
    font <- "Helvetica" #assign font family up front
    
    theme_bw(base_size = base_size, 
                base_family = base_family,
                base_line_size = base_line_size) %+replace%
    theme(
        legend.background =  element_blank(),
        legend.title =       element_text(color = rgb(100, 100, 100, maxColorValue = 255), 
                                          size = rel(0.65),
                                         hjust = 0),
        legend.text =        element_text(color = rgb(100, 100, 100, maxColorValue = 255),
                                          size = rel(0.65)),
        legend.key.size =    unit(0.8, "lines"),
      
      plot.title = element_text(
        color = rgb(100, 100, 100, maxColorValue = 255), 
        hjust = 0),
        
      axis.title = element_text(
        color = rgb(100, 100, 100, maxColorValue = 255),
        size = rel(0.65)),
      axis.text = element_text(
        color = rgb(100, 100, 100, maxColorValue = 255),
        size = rel(0.65)),
        
      plot.caption = element_text(
        color = rgb(100, 100, 100, maxColorValue = 255),
        size = rel(0.35),
        hjust = 1), 
        
      panel.grid.major = element_blank(),   
      panel.grid.minor = element_blank(),   
      panel.border = element_rect(fill = NA, colour = rgb(100, 100, 100, maxColorValue = 255)),

      
      complete = TRUE
    )
}

You can always alter any part of the plot using the theme options from ggplot2.

theme(
  line,
  rect,
  text,
  title,
  aspect.ratio,
  axis.title,
  axis.title.x,
  axis.title.x.top,
  axis.title.x.bottom,
  axis.title.y,
  axis.title.y.left,
  axis.title.y.right,
  axis.text,
  axis.text.x,
  axis.text.x.top,
  axis.text.x.bottom,
  axis.text.y,
  axis.text.y.left,
  axis.text.y.right,
  axis.ticks,
  axis.ticks.x,
  axis.ticks.x.top,
  axis.ticks.x.bottom,
  axis.ticks.y,
  axis.ticks.y.left,
  axis.ticks.y.right,
  axis.ticks.length,
  axis.ticks.length.x,
  axis.ticks.length.x.top,
  axis.ticks.length.x.bottom,
  axis.ticks.length.y,
  axis.ticks.length.y.left,
  axis.ticks.length.y.right,
  axis.line,
  axis.line.x,
  axis.line.x.top,
  axis.line.x.bottom,
  axis.line.y,
  axis.line.y.left,
  axis.line.y.right,
  legend.background,
  legend.margin,
  legend.spacing,
  legend.spacing.x,
  legend.spacing.y,
  legend.key,
  legend.key.size,
  legend.key.height,
  legend.key.width,
  legend.text,
  legend.text.align,
  legend.title,
  legend.title.align,
  legend.position,
  legend.direction,
  legend.justification,
  legend.box,
  legend.box.just,
  legend.box.margin,
  legend.box.background,
  legend.box.spacing,
  panel.background,
  panel.border,
  panel.spacing,
  panel.spacing.x,
  panel.spacing.y,
  panel.grid,
  panel.grid.major,
  panel.grid.minor,
  panel.grid.major.x,
  panel.grid.major.y,
  panel.grid.minor.x,
  panel.grid.minor.y,
  panel.ontop,
  plot.background,
  plot.title,
  plot.title.position,
  plot.subtitle,
  plot.caption,
  plot.caption.position,
  plot.tag,
  plot.tag.position,
  plot.margin,
  strip.background,
  strip.background.x,
  strip.background.y,
  strip.clip,
  strip.placement,
  strip.text,
  strip.text.x,
  strip.text.y,
  strip.switch.pad.grid,
  strip.switch.pad.wrap,
  ...,
  complete = FALSE,
  validate = TRUE
)

Below an example of a scatterplot of same geochemical data with the base ggplot2 theme and the glab_theme.

Credits

If you decide to use this theme, fantastic! If you wanna let us know that you are using it, drop us a line on social media or via email. If you wanna cite this theme, please use:

Giovannelli, D and the Giovanelli Lab members. 2020. A customized ggplot2 theme for publication ready scientific figures. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.7420645

Thank you and have fun with your data!