bbcstyle

bbcstyle is a lightweight Python package that applies a BBC News-inspired visual theme to Matplotlib and Seaborn plots. It helps you create clean, publication-ready charts with consistent typography, minimalist gridlines, and optional source annotations or logos. Inspired by the R package bbplot but tailored for Python, this theme is ideal for reports, dashboards, and data journalism.

Quick start

1. Install the package

 pip install bbcstyle

2. Enable the theme

Call the theme hook once at the start of your script/notebook:

import bbcstyle as bbc

bbc.set_theme()

3. Finish figures with the finaliser

After you build your Matplotlib figure, call finalise_pot to add the BBC-style framing (title, subtitle, divider abot the source, and optional logo) and to save it if you provide a path.

Example A - line chart:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import bbcstyle as bbc
from bbcstyle import finalise_plot

bbc.set_theme()

x = np.arange(0, 24)
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(9, 5), dpi=150)

ax.plot(x, np.cumsum(np.random.normal(0, 0.8, size=x.size)), linewidth=2, label="North")
ax.plot(x, np.cumsum(np.random.normal(0, 0.8, size=x.size)), linewidth=2, label="South")
ax.plot(x, np.cumsum(np.random.normal(0, 0.8, size=x.size)), linewidth=2, label="East")
ax.plot(x, np.cumsum(np.random.normal(0, 0.8, size=x.size)), linewidth=2, label="West")

ax.legend(frameon=False, ncols=2)
ax.spines[["top", "right"]].set_visible(False)
ax.set_xlabel("Hour")
ax.set_ylabel("Index")

finalise_plot(
    fig=fig,
    title="Regional index over the day",
    subtitle="Synthetic data, 24 hours",
    source="Source: Example data",
    logo_path=None,                    # e.g. "assets/bbc_logo.png"
    output_path="out/line_chart.png",  # omit to skip saving
    dpi=300,
)

Example B - bar chart using theme colors

The theme defines the color cycle in axes.prop_cycle. Use it directly so bars follow the theme palette.

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import bbcstyle as bbc
from bbcstyle import finalise_plot

bbc.set_theme()

cats = ["A", "B", "C", "D", "E"]
vals = [5, 7, 3, 6, 4]

# Pull colors from the active theme cycle
colors = plt.rcParams["axes.prop_cycle"].by_key()["color"]

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 5), dpi=150)
ax.bar(cats, vals, color=colors[: len(cats)])

ax.spines[["top", "right"]].set_visible(False)
ax.set_xlabel("Category")
ax.set_ylabel("Value")

finalise_plot(
    fig=fig,
    title="Example: Bar Chart",
    subtitle="Five categories coloured by the theme",
    source="Source: Example data",
    logo_path=None,
    output_path="out/bar_chart.png",
    dpi=300,
)

Notes

• Call bbc.set_theme() before creating figures so rcParams apply to everything you draw.

• finalise_plot:

  • Keeps your figure size unless you pass enforce_size=True.
  • Places a divider a fixed distance (in points) above the source line.
  • If logo_path and source are provided, the logo is anchored bottom-right, aligned to the source baseline.

• Avoid plt.tight_layout() after finalise_plot; the finaliser manages margins for title/subtitle/source.

Gallery

examples/gallery/01_bar_chart.py

examples/gallery/02_line_chart.py

examples/gallery/03_scatter_plot.py

examples/gallery/04_histograms.py

examples/gallery/05_bubble_scatter.py

Run them to generate PNGs in examples/gallery/out/.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

Note: “BBC” is a trademark of the British Broadcasting Corporation. This project is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the BBC. “BBC-inspired” refers to the general look & feel of certain public graphics.

Issues & support

Found a bug or have a feature request? Please open an issue and include:

• a minimal code snippet that reproduces the problem
• your Python, Matplotlib, and Seaborn versions, plus OS
• what you expected vs what you observed, and any screenshots

See bug report and feature request for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! A good first PR is often:

• a small fix to styling defaults,
• an additional gallery example in examples/gallery/,
• or a doc improvement.

See contributing for details.

Quick dev setup:

python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install -U pip
python -m pip install -e .
python -m pip install -U pytest ruff pre-commit
pre-commit install
pytest -q

Guidelines

Open an issue before large changes. Keep examples pure-Python (no notebooks) and save images to examples/gallery/out/. Run ruff and the pre-commit hooks; keep PRs focused and small. Add or update a test when changing behavior. See contributing for details.

Code of Conduct

We follow the Contributor Covenant. By participating, you agree to uphold this standard.

Authorship & credits

Created and maintained by Alessandro Tomassini (@ale-tom). Thanks to contributors and the broader visualization community for inspiration. Any similarities to BBC graphics are purely stylistic; this project is independent of the BBC.

Citation

If this package helps your work, please cite it:

@software{bbcstyle,
  title   = {bbcstyle: BBC-inspired theme for Matplotlib/Seaborn},
  author  = {Alessandro Tomassini},
  year    = {2025},
  version = {0.1.0},
  url     = {https://github.com/ale-tom/bbcstyle}
}