12  Waffle charts

This graph is largely complete and just needs final proof reading.

This graph requires:

✅ a categorical variable

12.1 Description

Waffle charts use small squares or icons to show how a whole thing is divided into parts, grouped into categories that fill a grid. They’re useful for visualizing percentages or proportions from a total and can include a legend or labels to explain each category. Waffle chart legends should be positioned on top or bottom and justified horizontally to preserve shape and improve readability.

We’ll build a waffle chart using the ggwaffle package.

12.2 Set up

PACKAGES:

Install packages.

library(pak)
library(ggwaffle)
install.packages("palmerpenguins")
library(palmerpenguins) 
library(ggplot2)

DATA:

Artwork by Allison Horst

Waffle charts require a special data transformation with ggwaffle::waffle_iron()

Set the group argument in ggwaffle::aes_d() as the categorical variable you want to see the relative counts for:

penguins <- palmerpenguins::penguins
penguins <- dplyr::mutate(penguins, 
              species = as.character(species))
waffle_peng <- ggwaffle::waffle_iron(penguins,
                      aes_d(group = species))

glimpse(waffle_peng)
#> Rows: 344
#> Columns: 3
#> $ y     <int> 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 1, 2, 3, 4…
#> $ x     <int> 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2…
#> $ group <chr> "Adelie", "Adelie", "Adelie", "Ade…

12.3 Grammar

CODE:

• Create labels with labs()

• Initialize the graph with ggplot() and provide data

• Map the x and y to the x and y axes

• Map group to fill

• Add ggwaffle::geom_waffle()

• Add ggwaffle::theme_waffle()

• Move the legend to the top with theme(legend.position = "top")

labs_waffle <- labs(
  title = "Palmer penguin species",
  x = "", y = "", fill = "Species")
ggp2_waffle <- ggplot(data = waffle_peng, 
       aes(x = x, 
           y = y, 
           fill = group)) + 
  ggwaffle::geom_waffle() +
  theme(legend.position = "top")
ggp2_waffle + 
  labs_waffle +
  ggwaffle::theme_waffle()

GRAPH: