Supreme Annotations - moar splainin here: http://rud.is/b/2016/03/16/supreme-annotations/ - NOTE: this requires the github version of ggplot2

00_theme_mods.R

# CAVEATS:
# 
# 1. This requires nonstandard fonts.  Showtext is the best way to handle this portably, BUT
# it doesn't work within the RStudio viewer pane.  Exported files (and knitr) are fine, also
# interactive sessions without RStudio (e.g., using XQuartz).
#
# When working in RStudio, I generally don't change the font and preview an "ugly" version
# of the chart.  Just make sure all the elements are set when exporting.
#
# To set up showtext:

library(showtext)
font.add.google("Open Sans Condensed", "Open Sans Condensed", regular.wt = 300)
showtext.auto()

# In knitr, set the fig.showtext CHUNK PARAMETER to TRUE.  Globally (for a file), you can put
# this in a chunk at the top:
library(knitr)
opts_chunk$set(fig.showtext = TRUE)
# or just set it for specific chunks

# 2. geom_label with label.size = 0 doesn't work (for me, at least) on the default pdf
# device.  You'll need to use CairoPDF to get the boxes to disappear. This may or may
# not be a little complicated to get working completely.
#

# **THEME**

# This is just a way to package most aspects of the above theme to make it easier to use more
# generally.
#
# Note that you will typically need to manually tweak the x and y axes, as well as the legend
# on a per-plot basis.
#
# For the axes, you usually want to get rid of the automatic space at the edges (this is why
# bar plots are by default lifted above the axis). This is done with the expand parameter:
#
# scale_x_continuous(expand = c(0,0), ...)
#
# But this will probably also require you to set the limits of the axis manually to prevent cutoff,
# etc.
# 
# First, set the global theme used for all plots:

theme_set(theme_minimal(base_family = "Open Sans Condensed"))

# Define the set of theme modifications.  Then for any ggplot object this can be added
# to apply the theme, e.g.,
# 
# p <- ggplot(df) + ...
# p <- p + theme_mods
# 
theme_mods <- theme(
  legend.position = c(0,1),
  legend.justification = c(0,1),
  legend.text = element_text(size = 8, face = "bold"),
  legend.key.size = unit(3, "mm"),
  plot.margin = unit(rep(0.5,4), "cm"),
  panel.grid = element_line(),
  panel.grid.major.x = element_blank(),
  panel.grid.minor.x = element_blank(),
  panel.grid.minor.y = element_blank(),
  panel.grid.major.y = element_line(color = "#2b2b2b", linetype = "dotted", size = 0.15),
  axis.text.y = element_text(margin = margin(r = 0)),
  axis.ticks.x = element_line(size = 0.15, color = "#2b2b2b"),
  axis.ticks.y = element_blank(),
  axis.ticks.length = unit(5, "pt"),
  axis.line = element_line(size = 0.15),
  axis.line.x = element_line(size = 0.15, color = "#2b2b2b"),
  plot.title = element_text(face = "bold"),
  plot.caption = element_text(size = 8, hjust = 0, margin = margin(t = 15)))

orig.png

plot.png

supreme.r

library(ggplot2)

dat <- read.csv("supreme_court_vacancies.csv",
                col.names=c("year", "wait"))

# We only want every other tick labeled
xlabs <- seq(1780, 2020, by=10)
xlabs[seq(2, 24, by=2)]  <-  " "

# Pretty long caption
caption <- "Note: Vacancies are counted as the number of days between a justice's death, retirement or resignation and the successor justice's swearing in (or commissioning in the case of a recess appointment) as a member of the court.Sources: U.S. Senate, 'Supreme Court Nominations, present-1789'; Supreme Court, 'Members of the Supreme Court of the United States'; Pew Research Center calculations"
caption <- paste0(strwrap(caption, 160), sep="", collapse="\n")
# you could probably just use caption <- label_wrap_gen(160)(caption) instead

annot <- read.table(text=
"year|wait|just|text
1848|860|0|Robert Cooper Grier was sworn in Aug 10, 1846,<br>841 days after the death of Henry Baldwin
1969|440|1|Henry Blackmun was sworn<br>in June 9, 1970, 391 days<br>after Abe Fortas resigned.
1990|290|0|Anthony Kennedy<br>was sworn in Feb.<br>18, 1988, 237<br>days after Lewis<br>Powell retired.",
sep="|", header=TRUE, stringsAsFactors=FALSE)
annot$text <- gsub("<br>", "\n", annot$text)

gg <- ggplot()
gg <- gg + geom_point(data=dat, aes(x=year, y=wait))
gg <- gg + geom_label(aes(x=1780, y=900, label="days"),
                      family="OpenSans-CondensedLight",
                      size=3.5, hjust=0, label.size=0, color="#2b2b2b")
gg <- gg + geom_label(data=annot, aes(x=year, y=wait, label=text, hjust=just),
                      family="OpenSans-CondensedLight", lineheight=0.95,
                      size=3, label.size=0, color="#2b2b2b")
gg <- gg + scale_x_continuous(expand=c(0,0),
                              breaks=seq(1780, 2020, by=10),
                              labels=xlabs, limits=c(1780,2020))
gg <- gg + scale_y_continuous(expand=c(0,10),
                              breaks=seq(100, 900, by=100),
                              limits=c(0, 1000))
gg <- gg + labs(x=NULL, y=NULL,
                title="Lengthy Supreme Court vacancies are rare now, but weren't always",
                subtitle="Supreme Court vacancies, by duration",
                caption=caption)
gg <- gg + theme_minimal(base_family="OpenSans-CondensedLight")
gg <- gg + theme(panel.grid=element_line())
gg <- gg + theme(panel.grid.major.y=element_line(color="#2b2b2b", linetype="dotted", size=0.15))
gg <- gg + theme(panel.grid.major.x=element_blank())
gg <- gg + theme(panel.grid.minor.x=element_blank())
gg <- gg + theme(panel.grid.minor.y=element_blank())
gg <- gg + theme(axis.line=element_line())
gg <- gg + theme(axis.line.x=element_line(color="#2b2b2b", size=0.15))
gg <- gg + theme(axis.ticks=element_line())
gg <- gg + theme(axis.ticks.x=element_line(color="#2b2b2b", size=0.15))
gg <- gg + theme(axis.ticks.y=element_blank())
gg <- gg + theme(axis.ticks.length=unit(5, "pt"))
gg <- gg + theme(plot.margin=unit(rep(0.5, 4), "cm"))
gg <- gg + theme(axis.text.y=element_text(margin=margin(r=-5)))
gg <- gg + theme(plot.title=element_text(family="OpenSans-CondensedBold", margin=margin(b=15)))
gg <- gg + theme(plot.subtitle=element_text(family="OpenSans-CondensedLightItalic"))
gg <- gg + theme(plot.caption=element_text(size=8, hjust=0, margin=margin(t=15)))
gg

supreme_court_vacancies.csv