5  Resources for ggplot2

5.1 ggplot2 reference guides

Here are a couple of quick reference guides for working with ggplot2.

• The documentation for ggplot2 is really good and should be one of the first places you look for help.
  • The Introduction to ggplot2 is particularly valuable for going over the grammar of graphics.
• There is also a Data visualization with ggplot2 – Cheat Sheet that provides a nice overview of commonly used aspects of ggplot2. You can view it as either a web page or a PDF.
• The ggplot2 Theme Elements Reference Sheet by Isabella Benabaye is a wonderful for when you want to remember how to change a theme element.

5.2 More in depth resources on ggplot2 and visualization

For more in depth discussions for how to use ggplot2 and data visualization in general, start with these resources:

• Hadley Wickham et al., R for Data Science: Import, Tidy, Transform, Visualize, and Model Data, Second edition (O’Reilly, 2023), https://r4ds.hadley.nz.
  • Chapter 1. Data visualization: Goes through a similar scatterplot as the Getting started with visualization worksheet but also contains information about other kinds of plots such as bar plots.
  • Chapter 9. Layers: Provides a more in depth discussion of the grammar of graphics.
  • Chapter 10. Exploratory data analysis: This chapter is less about the mechanics of visualization with ggplot2 and more about why data visualization is important to understanding data.
  • Chapter 11. Communication: This chapter focuses on how you can polish plots to make them better communicate the point you want to make with them.
• Kieran Healy, Data Visualization: A Practical Introduction (Princeton University Press, 2018).
• Claus Wilke, Fundamentals of Data Visualization (O’Reilly, 2019).
• Andreas, Krause, Rennie Nicola, and Tarran Brian. “Best Practices for Data Visualisation”. Version v1.0.1. February 1, 2024. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.10600718.
  • The Data visualization guide itself.
• The most in depth option is the Second or Third edition of ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis. The second edition from 2016 is available through the Library. The unpublished third edition is available online at https://ggplot2-book.org.

5.3 For inspiration

If you want some inspiration for using ggplot2 to make some truly unique visualizations, check out the data visualization work of Nicola Rennie.

• She has recently finished a book that goe through 12 different plots she has made, showing how and why she made them: Nicola Rennie, The Art of Data Visualization with Ggplot2: The TidyTuesday Cookbook (CRC Press, 2025), https://nrennie.rbind.io/art-of-viz/.
• You can also look over the different data challenges she has participated in.