Make Your Plots Stand Out with Highlights

Introduction

The ggcharts package currently offers two functions with a highlight parameter: bar_chart() and lollipop_chart(). Unless otherwise noted the usage is the same for both functions.

library(ggcharts)
library(dplyr)
data("biomedicalrevenue")
revenue2018 <- biomedicalrevenue %>%
  filter(year == 2018)

Basic Usage

In its most simple form the highlight feature can be used to highlight a single bar or lollipop.

bar_chart(
  revenue2018,
  company,
  revenue,
  limit = 10,
  highlight = "Roche"
)

Changing the Highlight Color

Changing the highlight color is simple: just provide a color to the bar_color parameter.

bar_chart(
  revenue2018,
  company,
  revenue,
  limit = 10,
  highlight = "Roche",
  bar_color = "darkorange"
)

To change the highlight color in lollipop_chart() pass a color to line_color. Note that having a different color for the lollipop head and stick is not possible when passing a value to highlight. The point_color will simply be ignored.

lollipop_chart(
  revenue2018,
  company,
  revenue,
  limit = 10,
  highlight = "Roche",
  line_color = "darkgreen"
)

Highlighting Multiple Data Points

To highlight more than one bar pass a vector to highlight. Note the message that gets printed.

bar_chart(
  revenue2018,
  company,
  revenue,
  limit = 10,
  highlight = c("Roche", "Novartis")
)
#> Using the same color to highlight all bars.

To highlight multiple bars in different colors pass a vector of colors to bar_color or line_color for bar_chart() and lollipop_chart(), respectively.

lollipop_chart(
  revenue2018,
  company,
  revenue,
  limit = 10,
  highlight = c("Roche", "Novartis"),
  line_color = c("steelblue", "darkorange")
)

Highlight + Facet

The highlight feature is particularly useful when used in conjunction with the facet feature.

biomedicalrevenue %>%
  filter(year %in% c(2012, 2014, 2016, 2018)) %>%
  bar_chart(
    company,
    revenue,
    facet = year,
    limit = 12,
    highlight = "Bayer",
    bar_color = "darkgreen"
  )