Using Good Color Names for Color Variables in R

name_that_color.R

# Using Appropriate Color Names in R
#
# Often times the right color palette and color choices can greatly elevate the
# quality of a data visualization;  the colourlovers.com website has long been
# host to a great number of 5-color palettes which users can favorite and share.
# Moreover, there is now an R package to interface with the colourlovers to
# automatically pull the hex-codes of a specified palette into R.
#
# To take this to the next step of usability, there are times it's appropriate
# to identify and name individiaul colors (ideally with memorable names) to
# facilitate the programmer's referencing them more intuitively in the code for
# data visualizations that make use of them.
#
# To that end, I think using something like the Name That Color
# (https://chir.ag/projects/name-that-color/) service to create easy-to-read and
# human-friendly color names for colors which are later regularly referenced in
# code is a promising programming practice for programming visual designs.

library(colourlovers)

# pull a nice palette off the colourlovers api 
palette <- clpalette('629637')

# in case I want to reference colors by "name", I have matched them 
# to an apt description using this "Name That Color" website: 
# https://chir.ag/projects/name-that-color/ 

radical_red <- str_c('#', palette$colors[[1]])
sweet_pink <- str_c('#', palette$colors[[2]])
apricot_peach <- str_c('#', palette$colors[[3]])
thistle_green <- str_c('#', palette$colors[[4]])
acapulco <- str_c('#', palette$colors[[5]])

# if you want, you can even over-write the names in the palette 
# object and then plot it to see if you like how the names match 
# the colors
palette$colors[[1]] <- 'Radical Red'
# ... 
plot(palette)