BFHtheme

BFH Theme and Color Palettes for ggplot2

A comprehensive R package providing theming support for ggplot2 graphics following the visual identity guidelines of Bispebjerg og Frederiksberg Hospital (BFH).

Features

• Multiple Color Palettes: Predefined palettes following BFH branding
• Theme Functions: Optimized themes for reports, presentations, and print
• Scale Functions: Easy-to-use color and fill scales for ggplot2
• Helper Utilities: Functions for saving plots with correct dimensions
• Branding Tools: Add logos, watermarks, and footers to your plots
• Global Defaults: Set BFH styling as default for all plots in a session

Installation

# Install from local package file
install.packages("BFHtheme_0.1.0.tar.gz", repos = NULL, type = "source")

# Or install from directory
devtools::install_local("/path/to/BFHtheme")

# Or if hosted on GitHub (update with your repo)
# devtools::install_github("yourusername/BFHtheme")

Recommended: Install showtext for Font Support

For best typography results, especially for external users without access to BFH's proprietary Mari font:

install.packages("showtext")

This enables automatic Roboto font loading from Google Fonts. See Typography section for details.

Note: Efter installation, genstart din R session for at sikre pakken er korrekt loaded.

Quick Start

library(BFHtheme)
library(ggplot2)

# Set BFH defaults for all plots
set_bfh_defaults()

# Create a plot - it will automatically use BFH theme and colors
ggplot(mtcars, aes(wt, mpg, color = factor(cyl))) +
  geom_point(size = 3) +
  bfh_labs(
    title = "Vehicle weight vs fuel efficiency",  # Natural case for titles
    x = "weight (1000 lbs)",                      # Uppercase for axes
    y = "miles per gallon"                        # Uppercase for axes
  )

Usage Examples

Basic Plot with BFH Theme

ggplot(mtcars, aes(wt, mpg)) +
  geom_point() +
  theme_bfh() +
  labs(title = "A Professional BFH Plot")

Using Different Color Palettes

# Discrete colors
ggplot(iris, aes(Sepal.Length, Sepal.Width, color = Species)) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_bfh(palette = "primary") +
  theme_bfh()

# Continuous colors
ggplot(faithfuld, aes(waiting, eruptions, fill = density)) +
  geom_tile() +
  scale_fill_bfh_continuous(palette = "blues") +
  theme_bfh()

Available Themes

• theme_bfh() - Main BFH theme (customizable via additional theme() calls)

Available Palettes

Based on Region Hovedstaden's official visual identity guidelines:

Hospital Palettes (Bispebjerg og Frederiksberg Hospital):

• hospital / main - Primary hospital colors for general use
• hospital_blues - Blue color gradient (hospital primary to light blue)
• hospital_blues_seq - Sequential blue palette including white
• hospital_infographic - Optimized for hospital infographics

Region Hovedstaden Palettes (Koncern):

• regionh - Primary Region H colors
• regionh_main - Main Region H palette
• regionh_blues - Region H blue gradient
• regionh_blues_seq - Sequential Region H blue palette including white
• regionh_infographic - Optimized for Region H infographics

Legacy/Compatibility Palettes:

• primary - Core identity colors
• blues / blues_sequential - Blue gradients
• greys - Grey to light blue palette
• contrast - High contrast colors for accessibility
• infographic - General infographic palette

View all palettes:

show_bfh_palettes()

Saving Plots

p <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(wt, mpg)) +
  geom_point() +
  theme_bfh()

# Use presets for common sizes
bfh_save("my_plot.png", p, preset = "report_full")
bfh_save("presentation.png", p, preset = "presentation")

# Or specify custom dimensions
bfh_save("custom.png", p, width = 10, height = 6, dpi = 600)

BFH Style Guidelines

The package includes bfh_labs() which automatically converts axis labels, subtitles, and legend titles to uppercase, while keeping the main plot title in natural case, following BFH visual identity conventions:

# Only title unchanged, everything else uppercase
ggplot(data, aes(date, value, color = group)) +
  geom_line() +
  theme_bfh() +
  bfh_labs(
    title = "Patient trends over time",    # → "Patient trends over time" (unchanged)
    subtitle = "2020-2024",                # → "2020-2024" (UPPERCASE)
    x = "date",                            # → "DATE"
    y = "number of patients",              # → "NUMBER OF PATIENTS"
    color = "department"                   # → "DEPARTMENT"
  )

# You can still use standard labs() if you prefer different styling
ggplot(data, aes(x, y)) +
  geom_point() +
  labs(title = "Custom Title", x = "custom x axis")

Tip: Use bfh_labs() for consistency with BFH branding guidelines. Only the main title remains in natural case; subtitle, axis labels, and legend titles are automatically uppercased.

Adding Branding Elements

p <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(wt, mpg)) + geom_point() + theme_bfh()

# Add BFH logo (default: BFH mark, fixed bottom-left position)
p_logo <- add_bfh_logo(p)

# With custom logo path or transparency
p_logo <- add_bfh_logo(p, logo_path = get_bfh_logo(size = "web"), alpha = 0.8)

# Add footer
p_footer <- add_bfh_footer(p, text = "Bispebjerg og Frederiksberg Hospital - 2024")

Customization

Official Colors

The package includes two sets of official colors:

Hospital Colors (Bispebjerg og Frederiksberg Hospital):

• Primary (Identitetsfarve): #007dbb (RGB: 0,125,187)
• Hospital Blue: #009ce8 (RGB: 0,156,232)
• Light Blue 1: #cce5f1 (RGB: 204,211,221)
• Light Blue 2: #e5f2f8 (RGB: 229,242,248)
• Hospital Grey: #646c6f (RGB: 100,108,111)
• Dark Grey: #333333 (RGB: 51,51,51)

Region Hovedstaden Colors (Koncern):

• Primary (Identitetsfarve): #002555 (RGB: 0,37,85) - Navy
• Region H Blue: #007dbb (RGB: 0,125,187)
• Light Grey 1: #ccd3dd (RGB: 204,211,221)
• Light Grey 2: #e5e9ee (RGB: 229,233,238)
• Region H Grey: #646c6f (RGB: 100,108,111)
• Dark Grey: #333333 (RGB: 51,51,51)

# View all colors
bfh_colors

# Access hospital colors
bfh_cols("hospital_primary", "hospital_blue")

# Access Region H colors
bfh_cols("regionh_primary", "regionh_blue")

Creating Custom Palettes

# Create a custom palette
my_palette <- bfh_cols("primary_blue", "orange", "teal", "purple")

# Use in a plot
ggplot(data, aes(x, y, color = group)) +
  geom_point() +
  scale_color_manual(values = my_palette)

Typography

Font Support

BFHtheme automatically selects the best available font using this priority order:

1. Mari (BFH official font - available on BFH employee computers)
2. Mari Office (alternative name on some systems)
3. Roboto (free open-source alternative)
4. Arial (system fallback)
5. sans (universal fallback)

For External Users (Without Mari Font)

Recommended: Install showtext package for automatic Roboto loading:

# Install showtext
install.packages("showtext")

# Use BFHtheme - Roboto will be auto-loaded from Google Fonts if needed
library(BFHtheme)
library(ggplot2)

ggplot(mtcars, aes(wt, mpg)) +
  geom_point() +
  theme_bfh()  # Roboto automatically loaded if Mari not available

Alternative: Manual Roboto installation

# Check which fonts are available
check_bfh_fonts()

# Get installation instructions
install_roboto_font()

# After installing Roboto, clear cache and verify
clear_bfh_font_cache()
check_bfh_fonts()

For custom fonts:

# Example with showtext package
library(showtext)
font_add("YourFont", "path/to/font.ttf")
showtext_auto()

# Use in theme
theme_bfh(base_family = "YourFont")

Note: Mari fonts are proprietary and only available on BFH employee computers. External users and collaborators should use Roboto (free, open-source, Apache 2.0 licensed) which provides excellent visual compatibility.

Package Structure

BFHtheme/
├── R/
│   ├── colors.R          # Color palettes and utilities
│   ├── scales.R          # ggplot2 scale functions
│   ├── themes.R          # Theme functions
│   ├── defaults.R        # Global defaults management
│   ├── helpers.R         # Helper functions (saving, etc.)
│   ├── branding.R        # Logo and branding functions
│   └── BFHtheme-package.R # Package documentation
├── inst/
│   └── examples/
│       └── basic_usage.R # Usage examples
├── man/                  # Documentation (auto-generated)
├── DESCRIPTION
├── NAMESPACE
└── README.md

Development

Updating Documentation

After modifying roxygen comments:

devtools::document()

Building the Package

devtools::build()
devtools::check()

Running Examples

source(system.file("examples/basic_usage.R", package = "BFHtheme"))

Contributing

We welcome contributions to BFHtheme! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines including:

• Package Architecture - Understand the module structure and where to add new code
• Utility Helper Conventions - Learn how to use %||% operator and validation helpers
• Caching Strategy - Understand session-level caching for fonts and palettes
• Development Workflow - Test-driven development process
• Code Style Guidelines - Naming conventions and coding patterns
• Testing Requirements - Coverage goals and test patterns

Quick checklist:

1. Check existing issues before creating a new one
2. Read the Package Architecture section to understand the codebase
3. Use utility helpers for validation (validate_*() functions and %||% operator)
4. Understand caching behavior and when to clear caches (clear_bfh_font_cache(), clear_bfh_pal_cache())
5. Follow the existing code style (snake_case, input validation, call. = FALSE in errors)
6. Write tests for new features (≥90% coverage goal)
7. Update documentation as needed (devtools::document())

License

MIT License (update LICENSE file as needed)

Contact

Bispebjerg og Frederiksberg Hospital

Acknowledgments

Built with ggplot2 and inspired by other theme packages in the R community.

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Note: Colors are based on Region Hovedstaden's official hospital visual identity guidelines (2024).