eriplots: Simple Plotting Utilities

The eriplots library for Python makes it a little easier to create clean, client-ready figures, inspired by Trees, maps, and theorems among others.

Installation

The best way to install or use the library is directly from GitHub:

# pip
pip install git+https://github.com/ElderResearch/eriplots-python.git

# uv
uv add git+https://github.com/ElderResearch/eriplots-python.git

Features

The library's utilities are organized along four directions:

1. Simple plot styles, with "profiles" for papers and slides
2. A streamlined subplots() workflow
3. Multi-format figure saving with automatic PNG compression
4. ERI-branded color palettes and colormaps

Plot Styling

The eriplots library provides a simple, customizable matplotlib style via eri_style() that supports two "profiles" for common scenarios:

1. document: 10 pt base type, 4.5 in × 2.5 in figure at 300 DPI
2. presentation: 20 pt base type, 7 in × 4 in figure at 300 DPI

Both profiles apply a clean style with consistent spacing, reduced visual noise, and harmonically-scaled text elements.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import eriplots as ep

# Document and Presentation profiles
plt.style.use(ep.eri_style(profile="document"))
plt.style.use(ep.eri_style(profile="presentation"))

# Further customizations
plt.style.use(ep.eri_style(base_size=12, base_family="serif"))

# Use in a context
with plt.style.context(ep.eri_style()):
    ...

Simplified Workflow

The library also simplifies the fig, ax = plt.subplots() workflow, making it easier to set options directly in the function call.

import eriplots as ep

# All subplots have a given aspect, provided as a flat array
fig, axes = ep.subplots(nrows=3, ncols=5, aspect=0.618, flatten=True)

Multi-Format Figures

The eriplots library provides a save_figures() function that automatically store raster (PNG) and vector (PDF) copies of the figure by default. When available, optipng is applied to any created PNGs.

import eriplots as ep

# By default: "plot.png", "plot.pdf"
ep.save_figures(fig, "plot")

# Specify the formats: "plot.png"
ep.save_figures(fig, "plot", formats="png")

# Disable PNG optimization
ep.save_figures(fig, "plot", optipng=False)

Colors and Colormaps

Finally, the eriplots library provides an enumeration over colors related to ERI's branding with accompanying discrete and continuous color maps.

import eriplots as ep

# Individual colors
print(ep.colors.mediumblue)  # "#005E7B"
print(ep.colors.darkred)     # "#D0073A"

# Colormaps
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.imshow(data, cmap="eri_colors")  # Discrete colormap
plt.imshow(data, cmap="eri_red_cyan")  # Continuous colormap

Contributing

We welcome contributions, both by raising issues and submitting pull requests!

License

The eriplots library is licensed under the MIT license (LICENSE.md or https://opensource.org/license/MIT).