CCF Color Palette

library(ezfun)
library(ggplot2)

Introduction

This vignette gives a short example on usage of the ccf_color_palette functionality. The goal of the ccf_color_palette functions is to give users access to Cleveland Clinic brand colors for use in plotting with ggplot2.

The code behind this color palette is largely based on the code from the Wes Anderson color palettes for R: https://github.com/karthik/wesanderson and a previous brand color palette I created at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

The colors

Details about the CCF brand colors can be found at the OnBrand website.

On a basic level, the CCF brand colors are stored as named values. You can see a complete list:

ccf_cols()
#>         ccf_blue        ccf_green        ccf_black            tango 
#>        "#0078bf"        "#00843d"        "#4b4b45"        "#f08122" 
#>     honey_flower     maroon_flush lightning_yellow        blue_haze 
#>        "#5c2161"        "#a61f56"        "#f7c612"        "#bdbbd4" 
#>       candy_corn           wattle          seagull        mauvelous 
#>        "#fdf061"        "#d5e048"        "#79d0e6"        "#ee93ae" 
#>         flamingo      beryl_green       cinderella             lola 
#>        "#ef413d"        "#dedab7"        "#fcdcda"        "#e2d4d9" 
#>       surf_crest    light_apricot       botticelli      silver_sand 
#>        "#cce4cb"        "#fdd1b0"        "#d3dee8"        "#c6c8c8" 
#>            jumbo pickled_bluewood        millbrook            mondo 
#>        "#7b7d83"        "#384d5f"        "#51362d"        "#473f29"

You can access the hex color for a specific color:

ccf_cols("ccf_green")
#> [1] "#00843d"

You can access the hex color for multiple colors:

ccf_cols("ccf_blue", "ccf_green")
#> [1] "#0078bf" "#00843d"

Palettes

There are six color palettes available.

You can view a list of the color names and hex codes for a specific color palette:

ccf_palettes[["main"]]
#> [1] "#0078bf" "#00843d" "#4b4b45" "#f08122" "#5c2161" "#a61f56" "#f7c612"

And you can also view the colors in a plot window.

main

The main color palette is based on the primary and seconary CCF brand colors.

ccf_palette("main")

bright

The bright color palette is based on the bright supplemental CCF brand colors.

ccf_palette("bright")

neutral

The neutral color palette is based on the neutral supplemental CCF brand colors.

ccf_palette("neutral")

all

The all color palette contains all colors from main, bright, and neutral for when a large number of colors are needed.

ccf_palette("all")

blues

The blues color palette only contains two colors and is meant to be used for continuous color scales where interpolation will be done between the high and low color.

ccf_palette("blues")

greens

Similarly, the greens color palette only contains two colors and is meant to be used for continuous color scales where interpolation will be done between the high and low color.

ccf_palette("greens")

Plotting

Functionality is available to plot single or multiple colors, discrete color scales, and continuous color scales.

To use a single specific color, simply reference it by name.

ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = hp, y = mpg)) +
  geom_point(size = 4, color = ccf_cols("ccf_green"))

You can do the same to use multiple specific colors using scale_color_manual.

ggplot(iris, aes(Sepal.Width, Sepal.Length, color = Species)) +
  geom_point(size = 4) +
  scale_color_manual(
    values = ccf_cols(c("ccf_green", "seagull", "maroon_flush")))

To use the palettes, specify a palette by name as the values argument to scale_color_manual or scale_fill_manual.

ggplot(iris, aes(Sepal.Width, Sepal.Length, color = Species)) +
  geom_point(size = 4) +
  scale_color_manual(values = ccf_palette("main"))

ggplot(iris, aes(Sepal.Width, Sepal.Length, color = Species)) +
  geom_point(size = 4) +
  scale_color_manual(values = ccf_palette("bright"))

You can also pick and choose which colors you want by position in the palette.

ggplot(iris, aes(Sepal.Width, Sepal.Length, color = Species)) +
  geom_point(size = 4) +
  scale_color_manual(values = ccf_palette("main")[c(1, 4, 6)])

The scale_color_gradientn function can be used to add colors on a continuous scale, by adding the option type = "continuous" to ccf_palette(). Interpolation between colors in the palette will be done to create a continuous scale, and this is intended for use with the blues and greens palettes.

ggplot(iris, aes(Sepal.Width, Sepal.Length, color = Petal.Length)) +
  geom_point(size = 4) +
  scale_color_gradientn(colors = ccf_palette("greens", type = "continuous"))

Emily C. Zabor

Last Updated: 2023-07-20