A Sneak Preview

One of my presentation goals for 2019 is to get into video recording. I did a couple of recordings in 2017 but wasn't that happy with them. Since then, I've upped the amount of equipment (mostly lights---you can never have enough lights, apparently) and am getting prepared. Here's a sneak preview: AdventureWorks in all its…

ggplot2: Radar Love

This is part eight of a series on ggplot2. As I bring this series to a close, I want to show off one last geom:  the radar chart.  I'm a fan of radar charts and you can build them natively with ggplot, but there is also an extension called ggradar. This brings me to a…

ggplot2: cowplot

This is part seven of a series on ggplot2. Up to this point, I've covered what I consider to be the basics of ggplot2.  Today, I want to cover a library which is still easy to use, but helps you create more advanced visuals:  cowplot.  I was excited by the name cowplot, but once I…

ggplot Basics: Facets

This is part six of a series on ggplot2. Up to this point, we've looked at single graphs.  But sometimes, a single graph can get a little too complicated for us.  Let's go back to our gapminder data set showing data by continent: I'd like to see if these relationships hold within the five different…

ggplot Basics: Themes And Legends

This is part five of a series on ggplot2. Today, we are going to spend some time on themes and legends in ggplot2.  This is where we can add a lot of polish to our graphs. Legends The guides() function gives us some control over how legends appear.  Let's start with a graph which includes…

ggplot Basics: Labels And Annotations

This is part four of a series on ggplot2. Last time around, we looked at how to use scales and coordinates to clean up charts.  Today, we're going to dig into labels and annotations, two vital parts of creating aesthetically pleasing graphs. Labels In ggplot2, we use the labs function to modify labels.  By labels,…

ggplot Basics: Scales And Coordinates

This is part three of a series on ggplot2. In yesterday's post, I built a number of charts in ggplot2.  When I plotted the log of a variable, I mentioned that the way I did it wasn't the best.  Today, we're going to look at the right way to do it. Scale The first thing…

ggplot Basics: Mappings And Geoms

This is part two of a series on ggplot2. In today's post, we will look at some of the basics of ggplot.  As mentioned in the previous post, ggplot has a number of layers.  In today's post, we will look at two of these layers:  the basic mapping layer and the geometric object (geom) layer.…

The Grammar of Graphics

This is part one of a series on ggplot2. I'm starting a new series on using ggplot2 to create high-quality visuals. But in order to understand why ggplot2 behaves the way it does, we need to understand a little bit about the grammar of graphics.  Leland Wilkinson published The Grammar of Graphics in 1999, with…

The Feasel Challenge

This is part eight of a series on dashboard visualization. Well, at this point we've nearly crossed the finish line.  The last part of this series covers The Feasel Challenge, which has given rise to the single most important dashboard I have:  the Victory Burrito dashboard.  My challenge is to eat a Victory Burrito in 50…