Clients
Arcada University, NOVA and more
Description
This project introduces the use of R, RStudio, and ggplot2 for data visualisation. The main focus is on ggplot’s layer-based philosophy, which allows a chart to be built incrementally by adding components such as scales, geometries, and annotations. Learners are guided through an exploratory workflow that begins with broad questions, such as “How is life expectancy changing over time?”, and gradually refines insights through encodings, filtering, and highlighting. Alongside these fundamental workflows, the presentation also showcases more innovative visualisation types, such as dumbbell plots, density plots, beeswarm charts, waffle charts, and parallel sets. Both the underlying theory and the practical R code are shared, ensuring students not only see the results but understand how to build them.
Impact
The teaching presentation gave students not only a toolkit of R and ggplot functions, but also a way of thinking about visualisation as an exploratory process. This prepared them to analyze real datasets with confidence and build narratives around them.
Year
2020 updated 2023
Tools
R , RStudio, ggplot2
Challenge
One of the main challenges was maintaining clarity and cleanliness in the charts. Even though ggplot makes it easy to generate a basic plot, achieving a professional-level visualisation often required many fine-tuned adjustments. Another challenge was learning to implement advanced customization in ggplot. While the syntax is logical, some details (like custom legends or annotations) required deep dives into documentation and experimentation.
Learning
Through this project I gained a deep understanding of how ggplot’s layer-based grammar of graphics works. I also learned how to use exploratory analysis as a stepwise process: beginning with large patterns, then zooming in through filtering, small multiples, and outlier highlighting. Building examples with real datasets gave me a better sense of how exploration naturally evolves into storytelling.
Topics
Grammar of graphics, small multiples, outliers, dumbbell, beeswarm, waffle, parallel coordinates
