Dataviz with R and ggplot2 workshop
Why us Dataviz so important?
A data visualisation can be a great shortcut in helping readers get to grips with a data story – but for it to work, it needs a bit of careful planning. In this session, we will explore how to make visuals which are intuitive for our end users, respect the nature of the data, emphasise our stories, and also look good. The end game is to equip you to produce graphs which are visually compelling, and help people engage well with the story you are telling.
Overview
This workshop is designed with the NHS staff and academic researchers in mind. In this 90-minute workshop, the following design principles as above will be covered, with a more technical focus:
- how to choose the right types of graphs for different types of data stories
- how to choose and apply story-enhancing colours in ggplot2
- how to make the most of typography and create data-driven annotations to help readers quickly orient themselves
- how to build in accessibility principles at each stage
- how to make your ggplot interactive (it’s easier than you think!)
It will include practical coding examples and plenty of signposting to resources for implementing these principles in R and ggplot2.
You will create one main graph with relevant data, and change the code in an iterative way to show a) the visual impact of applying each principle and b) things to look out for in the implementation. For each of the principles we explore and apply to the graph, fully reproducible code snippets will be prepared, which users can run to retrace our steps, or adapt for their own work.
Participants will leave with all of the code snippets we discussed, their own custom theme() function that they can use to apply a consistent aesthetic to their future projects, and a starter pack of commonly used graph types with the accompanying ggplot2 code.
Read from previous attendees of this course:
“The way I approach data visualisation has definitely changed and there are more steps I go through before I even get into coding. I think more about accessibility, colour schemes, key messages etc. My coding skills, especially when it came to data viz were very basic beforehand. This course really has given me more confidence in exploring different options and being more ‘creative’ with the visuals, which, especially working in academia, can feel quite daunting.”
“I attended your workshop last week “Level up your plots” as part of the NHS R course and found it really useful! Had been telling my colleagues how good it was and now they’re all keen to watch it!”
Prerequisites
- Experience creating basic graphs using {ggplot2} in R
- Ideally, have some data and a data visualisation you’ve created using ggplot2 that you can bring along with you and edit as we go
Capacity
20 people.
