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rwthplots

Matplotlib style sheets, colormaps, and figure utilities for RWTH Aachen University's corporate design palette.

PyPI Python CI License

Developed at the Institute for High Voltage Equipment and Grids, Digitalization and Energy Economics (IAEW), RWTH Aachen University.

RWTH colour palette — 13 base colours × 5 tint levels

Colour palette

Line plot with context() and pick_colors(6)

Style demo

Colormaps — key maps overview

Colormaps

Climate stripes — Nordrhein-Westfalen 1881–2025, real DWD data

Climate stripes

Why rwthplots?

Producing consistent, publication-ready figures in Python typically means manually copying hex codes, tweaking rcParams for every new script, and re-exporting at different sizes for different journals. rwthplots solves this in a single import, built around the RWTH Aachen University corporate design palette — a carefully curated set of 13 base colours across 5 tint levels, designed for contrast, legibility, and print reproduction.

import rwthplots
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

with rwthplots.context("rwth-latex", "color.blue", "size.ieee-column"):
    fig, ax = plt.subplots()
    ax.plot(x, y)
    rwthplots.save_figure(fig, "results/fig1", formats=["pdf", "png"])
  • One import registers all 38 colormaps (plus _r reversed variants) and all style sheets.
  • Composable styles — stack a base style with colour, size, and journal modifiers without editing rcParams directly.
  • Accessible by design — pick_colors() selects maximally distinct colours in CIELAB; check_accessibility() flags confusable pairs under three types of colour vision deficiency.
  • Power-system ready — dedicated colormaps for voltage deviation and line loading, plus a blackbody thermal_RWTH map.

Features at a glance

Feature Description
6 base styles LaTeX, Word, PowerPoint, dark, Beamer — drop-in plt.style.use()
Composable modifiers 16 colour cycles · 6 misc tweaks · 6 journal presets · 15 size presets
38 colormaps Diverging, sequential, discrete, and power-system maps — plus _r reversed variants
Colour sets Named qualitative palettes in HEX / RGB / normalised RGB
Accessibility CVD simulation (Viénot-Brettel-Mollon), delta-E reporting, greedy pick_colors()
Figure sizing set_size() with 15 journal/paper presets, golden-ratio height
Multi-format export save_figure() writes PDF + PNG + SVG in one call

Quick install

pip install rwthplots

See Installation for full options and Quick Start for a tour of all features.