Workshops

This short workshop will take participants through the technical details needed to make graphs using the grid package in R. This is a flexible package that allows users to create plots that they have designed to best represent their ideas, rather than to shoe horn their ideas into existing templates. Participants are expected not to know how to use grid at the start and will be able to construct their own plots by the end.

Participants will learn a few key concepts—viewports, layering objects, arranging panels, graphical outputs, units—and some specific syntax, to make objects such as lines and polygons, modify the graphic parameters, manipulate colours and so on. We will also spend some time critiquing plots. By the end of the workshop, participants will be equipped with the ability to design their own graphs in R.

This workshop is most ideal for participants who are already generating plots using other means—such as ggplot in R, or excel (yuck)—and would like to have the flexibility and power to create the plots they can see in their heads even if there are not built-in functions for them.

Requirements:

Please bring your own laptop for this workshop. This should have R already installed. Ideally it would have RStudio (desktop version) installed too. To find out how to install these, you may consult https://posit.co/download/rstudio-desktop/ Those who already have some familiarity with R would get more from this workshop.