Scatterplots in ggplot2

You will learn the layered syntax of ggplot2 for scatterplots in this section. It also demonstrates how regression lines can be added (compared with the base-R syntax shown in the introductory video).

Scatter plots with multiple groups

Change the point color/shape/size manually

The functions below are used:

scale_shape_manual() for point shapes
scale_color_manual() for point colors
scale_size_manual() for point sizes

# Change point shapes and colors manually
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x=wt, y=mpg, color=cyl, shape=cyl)) +
  geom_point() + 
  geom_smooth(method=lm, se=FALSE, fullrange=TRUE)+
  scale_shape_manual(values=c(3, 16, 17))+ 
  scale_color_manual(values=c('#999999','#E69F00', '#56B4E9'))+
  theme(legend.position="top")
  
# Change the point sizes manually
ggplot(mtcars, aes(x=wt, y=mpg, color=cyl, shape=cyl))+
  geom_point(aes(size=cyl)) + 
  geom_smooth(method=lm, se=FALSE, fullrange=TRUE)+
  scale_shape_manual(values=c(3, 16, 17))+ 
  scale_color_manual(values=c('#999999','#E69F00', '#56B4E9'))+
  scale_size_manual(values=c(2,3,4))+
  theme(legend.position="top")

It is also possible to change manually point and line colors using the functions :

scale_color_brewer() : to use color palettes from RColorBrewer package
scale_color_grey() : to use grey color palettes

p <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(x=wt, y=mpg, color=cyl, shape=cyl)) +
  geom_point() + 
  geom_smooth(method=lm, se=FALSE, fullrange=TRUE)+
  theme_classic()
# Use brewer color palettes
p+scale_color_brewer(palette="Dark2")
# Use grey scale
p + scale_color_grey()