The sc() function

This function stands for simplecolors. You can specify base colors

library(simplecolors)
sc("red", "blue", "violet")

or add modifiers

sc("brightred2", "mutedblue3", "dullviolet4")

And you can use it just like you’d use "red" or "blue"

library(ggplot2)

p <- 
  ggplot(mpg, aes(y = drv, fill = drv)) +
  geom_bar() 

p + scale_fill_manual(values = c("lightblue", "blue", "navyblue"))

p + scale_fill_manual(values = sc("blue2", "blue3", "blue4"))

You could also simplify this further as sc_blue(2:4)

Palettes

Construction

To get started there are 8 hues, 4 types of saturation, and 5 levels of lightness plus a greyscale. To use a color, just combine the 3 parts:

For example, the following code will return the corresponding colors

• sc("blue") = #4479E4
• sc("blue5") = #0D2659
• sc("dullblue3") = #7489B4

Palettes

There are multiple ways to access palettes

• sc_across() - holding light and saturation constant (at your choosing), a palette will be built across hues in the order you specify. The palette order is created using the first letter (uppercase) of each color, or “Gy” for “grey”.
• sc_[color]() there is a shortcut of sc_within() for each of the hues, for example sc_teal(), sc_red(), etc.

sc_within(hue = "teal", light = 3:5, sat = "bright")

#> [1] "#29FFFF" "#00B3B3" "#006666"

sc_across(palette = "OTVGy", light = 4, sat = "muted")

#> [1] "#86682D" "#2D8686" "#592D86" "#595959"

sc_within(hue = "blue", light = 2:5, sat = "") #defaults

#> [1] "#9DB9F1" "#4479E4" "#16439C" "#0D2659"

sc_within(hue = "blue", return = "table")

sc_within(hue = "blue", return = "plot")

sc_across(palette = "ROY", light = 3)

#> [1] "#E44444" "#E4AF44" "#E4E444"

sc_across(palette = "ROY", light = 3, return = "table")

sc_across(palette = "ROY", light = 3, sat = "bright", return = "plot")

sc_red(1:4, "bright")

#> [1] "#FFCCCC" "#FF8F8F" "#FF2929" "#B30000"

sc_blue(5:2, return = "table")

sc_pink(c(1,3,5), sat = "dull", return = "plot")

blue_and_red <-  c(
  sc_blue(4:2, "bright"), 
  sc_red(2:4, "bright")
)

iris %>% 
  mutate(cut = ntile(Sepal.Length, 6)) %>% 
  ggplot(aes(Sepal.Width, Sepal.Length, color = factor(cut))) +
  geom_count(size = 5) +
  #setting your custom gradients
  scale_color_manual(values = blue_and_red) +
  theme_minimal()

All colors