ggbranding

Add personal branding to ggplot2 charts using Font Awesome 7 icons

Key Features:

• 🚀 Auto Font Setup - Automatically downloads Font Awesome 7 fonts on first use
• 🎨 500+ Icons - Access to all Font Awesome brand and communication icons
• 🎯 One Function Call - Add complete branding with add_branding()
• 🎨 Customizable - Brand colors, custom text, and styling options
• 📦 Lightweight - Efficient font caching and quite minimal dependencies

Installation

Install the development version from GitHub:

# library(pak)
pak::pak("gnoblet/ggbranding")
# CRAN version to come

Quick Start

library(ggplot2)
library(ggtext)
library(ggbranding)
library(showtext)
#> Loading required package: sysfonts
#> Loading required package: showtextdb
library(sysfonts)

# setup dpi
showtext::showtext_opts(dpi = 300)

# add branding with + in ggplot chain
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = mpg, y = wt)) +
  geom_point() +
  labs(title = "My Awesome Plot") +
  add_branding(
    github = "gnoblet",
    bluesky = "@gnoblet",
    linkedin = "gnoblet"
  )

That’s it! The function automatically:

• Downloads and sets up Font Awesome 7 fonts
• Applies ggtext::element_textbox_simple() theme
• Creates HTML-formatted captions with icons
• Handles text sanitization for grid rendering

Uses Examples

Use with + in your ggplot chain:

# With additional text before branding, custom spacing and blue colors
ggplot(iris, aes(x = Sepal.Length, y = Sepal.Width)) +
  geom_point() +
  add_branding(
    github = "gnoblet",
    bluesky = "@gnoblet",
    additional_text = "Data source: iris dataset",
    text_position = "before",
    line_spacing = 2L, # double line breaks for extra space
    icon_color = "blue",
    text_color = "blue",
    additional_text_color = "darkgrey"
  )

# With custom styling and Roboto Condensed font
font_add_google("Monoton", "monoton")
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = mpg, y = wt)) +
  geom_point() +
  add_branding(
    github = "GNOBLET",
    bluesky = "@GNOBLET",
    caption_halign = 1, # right-align caption
    icon_size = "12pt", # larger icons
    text_size = "12pt", # larger text,
    text_family = "monoton", # custom font
    caption_margin = ggplot2::margin(t = 20, b = 5, unit = "pt") # custom margin
  )

# Use custom icons
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x = mpg, y = wt)) +
  geom_point() +
  add_branding(
    github = "gnoblet",
    bluesky = "@gnoblet",
    custom_icons = c(
      envelope = "gnoblet@fake.news",
      rss = "gnoblet.github.io"
    )
  )
#> No icon found for platform 'rss', using generic link icon with following
#> unicode: 'xf0c1'.

Supported Platforms

Built-in support for major platforms:

Platform	Parameter	Example
GitHub	github	github = "username"
GitLab	gitlab	gitlab = "username"
LinkedIn	linkedin	linkedin = "profile"
Bluesky	bluesky	bluesky = "user.bsky.social"
Twitter/X	twitter	twitter = "handle"
Mastodon	mastodon	mastodon = "@user@server.com"
ORCID	orcid	orcid = "0000-0000-0000-0000"
Email	email	email = "user@email.com"
Website	website	website = "yoursite.com"

Custom Icons

Access 500+ Font Awesome icons with custom_icons. To list and search available icons:

# Discover available icons
list_available_icons() |> head(5)

# Search for specific icons
list_available_icons(search = "envelope")

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

# 1. Icons not displaying
fa_setup(auto_download = TRUE)

# 2. Clear cache if fonts seem corrupted
clear_font_cache_dir(confirm = FALSE)

# 3. Check available icons
head(list_available_icons())

# 4. Test basic functionality
branding(github = "test")

Manual Font Setup (If Needed)

library(sysfonts)
library(showtext)

# Download Font Awesome 7 from https://fontawesome.com/download
# Extract and use the Brands font file
sysfonts::font_add(
  family = "Font Awesome 7 Brands",
  regular = "path/to/Font-Awesome-7-Brands-Regular-400.otf"
)
sysfonts::font_add(
  family = "Font Awesome 7 Free",
  regular = "path/to/Font-Awesome-7-Free-Solid-900.otf"
)
showtext::showtext_auto()

# Then use with setup_fonts = FALSE
branding(github = "username", setup_fonts = FALSE)

Citation

citation("ggbranding")

Acknowledgments

• Inspired by Nicola Rennie’s blog post
• Font Awesome team for their marvelous icoms
• R community for ggplot2, ggtext, and ecosystem packages

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Made with ♥ and Font Awesome 7 • Add your branding today!