I have been amazed for a while that there is no major stats software offering pictograms. You know the sort of classic infographic I mean:

Isotype’s classic design

Well, I have been working on an R function to help with this. It’s at Github here and below. Here’s an example:

man<-readPNG("man.png")

pictogram(icon=man, n=c(12,35,52), grouplabels=c("dudes","chaps","lads"))

Simple, huh? You can also have more than one icon, although it’s up to you to keep them a sensible height:width ratio or ‘aspect’ to avoid distorting impressions.

pictogram(icon=list(man,holly,monster), n=c(12,35,52), grouplabels=c("men","holly","monsters"))

Suggestions? e-mail me or better still, pull them on Github. Happy pictogramming!

# requires image to be read in by readPNG or similar and supplied as "icon" # To do: allow for non-integer n pictogram<-function(icon,n,grouplabels="", hicons=20,vspace=0.5,labprop=0.2,labelcex=1) { if(is.list(icon)) { licon<-icon } else { licon<-list(icon) for (i in 2:length(n)) { licon[[i]]<-icon } } library(reshape) sumn<-sum(n) group<-untable(df=matrix((1:length(n)),ncol=1),num=n) vicons<-ceiling(n/hicons) allv<-sum(vicons) tail<-n%%hicons # dim[1] is the height, dim[2] the width: devaspect<-dev.size(units="px")[1]/dev.size(units="px")[2] xlength<-1 # get dims of all elements of licon, find greatest aspect and set ylength getdim<-function(z) { aspect<-dim(z)[1]/dim(z)[2] return(aspect) } all.ylengths<-unlist(lapply(licon,getdim)) ylength<-max(all.ylengths) all.ylengths<-untable(df=matrix(all.ylengths,ncol=1),num=n) ytop<-allv*ylength if(devaspect*hicons<allv) warning("Icons may extend above the top of the graph") # vector of icons per row iconrow<-as.vector(as.matrix(rbind(rep(hicons,length(vicons)),tail))) # vector for how many times to repeat elements of iconrow reprow<-as.vector(as.matrix(rbind((vicons-1),rep(1,length(vicons))))) perrow<-untable(df=matrix(iconrow,ncol=1),num=reprow) spacing<-NULL for (i in 1:(length(n))) { spacing<-c(spacing,rep((i-1)*vspace*ylength,n[i])) } y0<-spacing+(ylength*untable(df=matrix((1:allv)-1,ncol=1),num=perrow)) y1<-y0+all.ylengths # there are more elegant ways to make x0, but for now... x0<-NULL for (i in 1:(length(perrow))) { x0<-c(x0,(0:(perrow[i]-1))) } x1<-x0+xlength leftplot<-floor(-(labprop*hicons)) plot(c(leftplot,hicons),c(0,(devaspect*hicons)), type="n",bty="n",ylab="",xlab="",xaxt="n",yaxt="n") lines(x=c(0,0),y=c(min(y0)-(ylength/2),max(y1)+(ylength/2))) for (i in 1:sumn) { rasterImage(image=licon[[group[i]]],xleft=x0[i],xright=x1[i], ytop=y1[i],ybottom=y0[i]) } # find positions for labels ylabpos<-rep(NA,length(n)) for (i in 1:length(n)) { ylabpos[i]<-(max(y1[group==i])+min(y0[group==i]))/2 } text(x=leftplot/2,y=ylabpos,labels=grouplabels,cex=labelcex) }