Hex Stickers

stickers

Author

John Benninghoff

Published

February 1, 2023

Modified

August 20, 2026

Source code used to generate Hex Stickers for my R packages, using hexSticker.

Requires imageMagick, run: brew install imagemagick.

library(hexSticker)
library(showtext)
library(tidyr)
library(ggplot2)
library(jbplot)

I used https://github.com/ryansafner/hexstickers as a reference to help get started with hexStickers.

rdev

Sticker for rdev.

Uses a modified version of the Wikimedia Commons Infinity in circle symbol to represent DevOps. The fill color is OSHA safety yellow.

font_add_google("Lato")
# TODO: understand why setting dpi = 600 and not dpi = 1200 correctly sizes the font
showtext_opts(dpi = 600)

sticker(
  "assets/infinity.png",
  s_x = 1,
  s_y = 0.7,
  s_width = 0.5,
  s_height = 0.5,
  package = "rdev",
  p_color = "black",
  p_family = "Lato",
  p_size = 28,
  h_fill = "#EAC234",
  h_color = "black",
  filename = "rendered/rdev.png",
  dpi = 1200
)

Rendered file:

rdev infinity hex sticker

jbplot

Sticker for jbplot.

First Version

The background of the sticker is a line plot with three colors using the viridis color map.

j_series <- c(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

jbplot_v1 <- data.frame(
  observation = 1:10,
  group_a = j_series - 1,
  group_b = j_series + 1,
  group_c = j_series + 3
) |>
  pivot_longer(!observation, names_to = "group") |>
  ggplot(aes(x = observation, y = value, color = group)) +
  geom_line() +
  geom_point() +
  labs(x = NULL, y = NULL) +
  guides(color = "none") +
  scale_x_continuous(labels = NULL) +
  scale_y_continuous(limits = c(-1, 12), labels = NULL) +
  scale_color_viridis_d() +
  theme_quo()

sticker(
  jbplot_v1,
  s_x = 1,
  s_y = 1,
  s_width = 2,
  s_height = 2.15,
  package = "jbplot",
  p_color = "gray50",
  p_family = "Lato",
  p_size = 24,
  h_fill = "white",
  h_color = "black",
  white_around_sticker = TRUE,
  filename = "rendered/jbplot_v1.png",
  dpi = 1200
)

Rendered file:

jblot three colored lines hex sticker

While this version is OK, it’s strangely unsatisfying.

Second Version

The second version uses a jbplot ggplot_donut() plot with the viridis color map.

jbplot <- data.frame(group = c("A", "B", "C"), n = c(4, 3, 2), stringsAsFactors = FALSE) |>
  ggplot_donut(hsize = 4) +
  scale_fill_viridis_d() +
  guides(fill = "none") +
  theme_transparent() +
  theme(plot.background = element_rect(linewidth = 0))

sticker(
  jbplot,
  s_x = 0.983,
  s_y = 0.6,
  s_width = 1.1,
  s_height = 1.1,
  package = "jbplot",
  p_color = "gray25",
  p_family = "Lato",
  p_size = 22,
  h_fill = "white",
  h_color = "gray50",
  filename = "rendered/jbplot.png",
  dpi = 1200
)

Rendered file:

jbplot three color donut plot hex sticker

The second version is more satisfying.

cards

Sticker for cards. Uses ggplot2 text annotations with unicode card suits. The background is Poker Green and the border is Dark Wood.

c_size <- 9
cards <- ggplot() +
  annotate("text", x = 1, y = 0, label = "A\u2663", size = c_size) +
  annotate("text", x = 2, y = 0, label = "A\u2666", size = c_size, color = "red") +
  annotate("text", x = 3, y = 0, label = "A\u2665", size = c_size, color = "red") +
  annotate("text", x = 4, y = 0, label = "A\u2660", size = c_size) +
  annotate("text", x = 5, y = 0, label = "K\u2663", size = c_size) +
  scale_x_continuous(limits = c(0.25, 5.75)) +
  theme_void() +
  theme_transparent()

sticker(
  cards,
  s_x = 1,
  s_y = 0.65,
  s_width = 2,
  s_height = 2,
  package = "cards",
  p_y = 1.2,
  p_color = "#FFFFFF",
  p_family = "Lato",
  p_size = 22,
  h_fill = "#35654D",
  h_color = "#855E42",
  filename = "rendered/cards.png",
  dpi = 1200
)

Rendered file:

cards four aces king hex sticker

quantrr

Sticker for quantrr. Features an uppercase “Q” in the Metropolis font, rendered as a .png since Metropolis isn’t in Google Fonts. Blue Q, orange text, with a dark gray border and light gray background.

pal <- jbplot::differently_palettes$primary

sticker(
  "assets/q-logo.png",
  s_x = 1,
  s_y = 1.3,
  s_width = 0.5,
  s_height = 0.5,
  package = "quantrr",
  p_y = 0.7,
  p_color = pal[["orange"]],
  p_family = "Lato",
  p_size = 20,
  h_fill = pal[["lightgray"]],
  h_color = pal[["darkgray"]],
  filename = "rendered/quantrr.png",
  dpi = 1200
)

Rendered file:

quantrr Q hex sticker

stickers

Stickers image built with the hexwall script. The sticker background is a neutral white. The border and title are Royal Blue.

hexwall("analysis/rendered", sticker_row_size = 2)

The hexwall.png file was edited to change the white background to transparent.

sticker(
  "assets/hexwall.png",
  s_x = 1,
  s_y = 0.625,
  s_width = 0.4,
  s_height = 0.4,
  package = "stickers",
  p_color = "#2B60DE",
  p_family = "Lato",
  p_size = 18,
  h_fill = "white",
  h_color = "#2B60DE",
  filename = "rendered/stickers.png",
  dpi = 1200
)

Rendered file:

stickers hexwall hex sticker