4  Fonts

4.1 ggplot

Follow along by using the Ubuntu font. Download the family Ubuntu family and extract the zip file.

4.1.1 Set-Up R Studio

Start by setting up your R studio environment by following these instructions:

• install the ragg, the systemfonts will also be installed package as it’s a dependency of ragg
• Set default graphics device to use AGG in Tools > Global Options > General > Graphics
• review available fonts using systemfonts::system_fonts()

At this point, all fonts that are installed on your machine are available for use.

4.1.2 Convert to .ttf

There are many different types of font files, only .ttf will work with R & ggplot together. If the custom font you want to use is not a .ttf file, you will need to convert it.

I used convertio.co website to convert font files to .ttf files.

4.1.3 Install Fonts on Machine

Open a .ttf file. Click ‘install’ in top right hand corner. You need to do this for each font file you plan to use.

Ways to check to see if font has been installed on your machine:

• Open up Word/PowerPoint/Excel and see if the new font can be used in the document
• Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Fonts and search for font in folder

4.1.4 View Font Options in R

my_fonts <- systemfonts::system_fonts()

ubuntu_fonts <- my_fonts |> 
  filter(family == "Ubuntu") |>
  select(name, family, style, weight, width, italic, monospace)

ubuntu_fonts

# A tibble: 8 × 7
  name                family style         weight width  italic monospace
  <chr>               <chr>  <chr>         <ord>  <ord>  <lgl>  <lgl>    
1 Ubuntu-BoldItalic   Ubuntu Bold Italic   bold   normal TRUE   FALSE    
2 Ubuntu-Italic       Ubuntu Italic        normal normal TRUE   FALSE    
3 Ubuntu-Light        Ubuntu Light         light  normal FALSE  FALSE    
4 Ubuntu-LightItalic  Ubuntu Light Italic  light  normal TRUE   FALSE    
5 Ubuntu-Medium       Ubuntu Medium        medium normal FALSE  FALSE    
6 Ubuntu-MediumItalic Ubuntu Medium Italic medium normal TRUE   FALSE    
7 Ubuntu-Regular      Ubuntu Regular       normal normal FALSE  FALSE    
8 Ubuntu-Bold         Ubuntu Bold          bold   normal FALSE  FALSE    

4.1.5 Use Fonts in ggplot

4.1.5.1 Basic Styling (Bold/Italic)

df <- tibble(x = rep(0, 4), y = c(4:1), 
  font = rep("Ubuntu", 4), style = c("plain", "italic", "bold", "bold.italic"))

ggplot(df, aes(x = x, y = y)) +
  labs(title = "Ubuntu Font in ggplot") + 
  geom_text(aes(x = x-0.2, label = style, family = font, fontface = style), hjust = 0) + 
  geom_text(aes(family = font, fontface = style), 
    label = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 1234567890", hjust = 0 ) + 
  scale_y_continuous(limits = c(0.5, 4.5)) + 
  scale_x_continuous(limits = c(-0.2, 0.6)) + 
  theme_void() + theme(plot.title = element_text(family = "Ubuntu", face = "plain"))

4.1.5.2 Weight Styling (Medium/Light)

Many custom fonts will have a light or medium weight version of the font. In order to use these styles, the user must register these fonts separately. This needs to occur every session.

systemfonts::register_variant(
  name = "Ubuntu Medium",
  family = "Ubuntu",
  weight = "medium"
)

All font variants can be hoisted at the same time creating hoist_fonts() function. If you are using the fonts for ggplot2 items within a shiny app, please review Adding Custom Fonts to a Shiny App

font_hoist <- function(family, silent = FALSE) {

  font_df <- system_fonts()

  # filter to specified font family
  font_varients <- font_df[which(font_df$family == family), c("family", "style", "path")]

  font_specs <- data.frame(
    name = paste(font_varients$family, font_varients$style), # create unique variant name
    plain = font_varients$path # rename to match arguments in register_font fnc
  )

  pwalk(as.list(font_specs), register_font)

  if (!silent)  message(paste0("Hoisted ", nrow(font_specs), " variants:\n",
                               paste(font_specs$name, collapse = "\n")))
}

font_hoist("Ubuntu")

Hoisted 8 variants:
Ubuntu Bold Italic
Ubuntu Italic
Ubuntu Light
Ubuntu Light Italic
Ubuntu Medium
Ubuntu Medium Italic
Ubuntu Regular
Ubuntu Bold

df <- tibble(x = rep(0, 4), y = c(4:1), 
  font = c("Ubuntu Light", "Ubuntu", "Ubuntu Medium", "Ubuntu Bold"), 
  style = rep("plain", 4) )

ggplot(df, aes(x = x, y = y)) +
  labs(title = "Ubuntu Font Weights in ggplot") + 
  geom_text(aes(x = x-0.2, label = font, family = font, fontface = style), hjust = 0) + 
  geom_text(aes(family = font, fontface = style), 
    label = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 1234567890", hjust = 0 ) + 
  scale_y_continuous(limits = c(0.5, 4.5)) + 
  scale_x_continuous(limits = c(-0.2, 0.6)) + 
  theme_void() + theme(plot.title = element_text(family = "Ubuntu", face = "plain"))

4.1.6 Export to PNG

gg <- ggplot(mpg, aes(x = cty, y = hwy)) +
  geom_point() + 
  facet_wrap(~class) + 
  labs(
    title = "a quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog",
    subtitle = "a quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog",
    caption = "a quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"
  ) +
  theme_minimal(base_family = "Ubuntu") + 
  theme(
    plot.title = element_text(family = "Ubuntu Bold"),
    plot.subtitle = element_text(family = "Ubuntu Medium"),
    plot.caption = element_text(family = "Ubuntu Light")
  )

ggsave(
  plot = gg,
  filename = file.path("img/fonts-export-01.png"),
  dpi = 300,
  height = 6,
  width = 10,
  units = "in",
  bg = "transparent"
)

4.1.7 Export to PDF

Hoisting fonts (as listed above) works for displaying preview window and exporting to png files; however this will not work if saving image as pdf.

ggsave(
  plot = gg,
  filename = file.path("img/fonts-export-02.pdf"),
  device = cairo_pdf,
  dpi = 300,
  height = 6,
  width = 10,
  units = "in",
  bg = "transparent"
)

If you are interested in just bolding items, that can be done and work in pdf without extra steps:

gg <- gg + theme(plot.title = element_text(family = "Ubuntu", face = "bold"))

ggsave(
  plot = gg,
  filename = file.path("img/fonts-export-03.pdf"),
  device = cairo_pdf,
  dpi = 300,
  height = 6,
  width = 10,
  units = "in",
  bg = "transparent"
)

If you want to use other weights (medium or light), or if you wanted to use a bolded italic font – it can be done but it is a bit of a process.

4.1.7.0.1 Step 1: Create Custom Font

The most important point of this step is changing the name of the font so it is not associated with the original family.

• SuperUser, How do you change a TTF font name
• Glyphr Studio

I went to Glphyr Studio and uploaded Ubuntu-MediumItalic.ttf by clicking the ‘Load’ tab. Uploading takes a 1-2 minutes.

Once the font is uploaded, change the name of the font by clicking the Edit project and font info. Select the ‘Font’ tab and change the name, in this case to “UbuntuMediumItalic.”

Finally, select file and export the otf file.

4.1.7.0.2 Step 2: Install font

Open the otf file and click the install button. After this is complete, the ‘new’ font should show up in the Fonts on the control panel.

After restarting the R environment, the custom font should also be displayed in the system fonts.

systemfonts::system_fonts() |> 
  filter(str_detect(name, "Ubuntu")) |> 
  arrange(family, name) |> 
  select(name, family, style, weight, width, italic, monospace)

# A tibble: 9 × 7
  name                     family            style weight width italic monospace
  <chr>                    <chr>             <chr> <ord>  <ord> <lgl>  <lgl>    
1 Ubuntu-Bold              Ubuntu            Bold  bold   norm… FALSE  FALSE    
2 Ubuntu-BoldItalic        Ubuntu            Bold… bold   norm… TRUE   FALSE    
3 Ubuntu-Italic            Ubuntu            Ital… normal norm… TRUE   FALSE    
4 Ubuntu-Light             Ubuntu            Light light  norm… FALSE  FALSE    
5 Ubuntu-LightItalic       Ubuntu            Ligh… light  norm… TRUE   FALSE    
6 Ubuntu-Medium            Ubuntu            Medi… medium norm… FALSE  FALSE    
7 Ubuntu-MediumItalic      Ubuntu            Medi… medium norm… TRUE   FALSE    
8 Ubuntu-Regular           Ubuntu            Regu… normal norm… FALSE  FALSE    
9 UbuntuMediumItalicItalic UbuntuMediumItal… Ital… medium norm… TRUE   FALSE    

4.1.7.0.3 Step 3: Use Custom Font Name

The fonts will NOT work in the ggplot preview or when saving as png – only in saved pdf files.

gg <- ggplot(mpg, aes(x = cty, y = hwy)) +
  geom_point() + 
  facet_wrap(~class) + 
  labs(
    title = "a quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog",
    subtitle = "a quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog",
    caption = "a quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"
  ) +
  theme_minimal(base_family = "Ubuntu") + 
  theme(
    plot.title = element_text(family = "UbuntuMediumItalic"),
    plot.subtitle = element_text(family = "UbuntuMediumItalic"),
    plot.caption = element_text(family = "UbuntuMediumItalic")
  )

gg

ggsave(
  plot = gg,
  filename = "img/fonts-export-04.pdf", 
  device = cairo_pdf,
  dpi = 300,
  height = 6,
  width = 10,
  units = "in",
  bg = "transparent"
)

Can’t get pdf preview to load when using the custom fonts; below is a screen shot of what the pdf looks like when opened.

4.1.8 Additional Links

• Kerning and Kerning in a Widening Gyre, 2025 (fonts in pdf)
  
• Setting up and debugging custom fonts, June Choe - 2021
• Selecting the correct image file type, 2021

4.2 ttf: extrafont

4.2.1 Install Packages

install.packages("extrafont")
remotes::install_version("Rttf2pt1", version = "1.3.8")

As of August 2022, if you just install {extrafont} as is, you will have a problem with importing fonts on Windows and there will be an error saying ‘No Font Name’. To solve this, install version 1.3.8 of {Rttf2pt1}.

Sources: Stack Overflow, May 2020 | how to resolve the “No Font Name” issue when importing fonts into R with extrafont and extrafont GitHub Issue #88 Jul 2021 | wzbillings comment

4.2.2 Download All .ttf Fonts in C:\Windows\Fonts Folder

#will import ALL fonts, takes 5-10 min
extrafont::font_import() 

4.2.3 Download Other Fonts by File

extrafont::font_import(paths = "C:/PATH/TO/FOLDER/WITH/TTF", prompt = FALSE) 

4.2.4 Use

Prior to using fonts in R, need to load fonts in each session (this is like using library() or box::use() for a specific package)

#quiet = FALSE to remove listing of of fonts 
extrafont::Loadfonts(devide = "win", quite = TRUE) 

4.3 otf: showtext

4.3.1 Install Packages

• issues with {showtext} package when in use
• other ggplot2 fonts are affect when actively using this package, making the fonts smaller and making line breaks much larger

install.packages("showtext")
library(showtext)
showtext_auto() 
font_add("NewFont", regular = "C://PATH//TO//NewFont.otf")
font_families()