waxwing 0.1.0

Matplotlib utilities and color palettes for publication-ready figures

waxwing

Matplotlib utilities and color palettes for publication-ready figures.

Waxwing applies sensible defaults—clean spines, print-quality DPI, editable PDF fonts, bundled typefaces—so you spend less time fighting Matplotlib and more time on your figures.

Installation

pip install waxwing

Quick start

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import waxwing

waxwing.set_default_styles()          # apply all defaults at once

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.plot([1, 2, 3], color=waxwing.palettes.clay[1])
waxwing.trim_spines(ax)
plt.savefig("figure.pdf")

Styling

set_default_styles()

Applies the full waxwing style in one call:

Setting	Value
Font	Source Sans 3, 9 pt
Figure size	6.5 × 3 in (single column, papers)
Screen DPI	150
Save DPI	300
Save bbox	tight
PDF/PS font type	42 (editable in Illustrator)
Top/right spines	removed
Axis margins	0

You can also set individual properties:

waxwing.set_font("Literata")      # switch to a serif font
waxwing.set_figsize(3.25, 2.5)    # half-column width

trim_spines(ax=None, keep_right=False, keep_top=False)

Clips the left and bottom spines to the outermost tick marks, giving a clean floating-axis look. Call after all data and tick configuration is done.

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.plot(x, y)
waxwing.trim_spines(ax)

Fonts

Four variable-weight typefaces are bundled and registered automatically on import:

Name	Style
"Source Sans 3"	Neutral sans-serif (default)
"Noto Sans"	Wide-coverage sans-serif
"Source Serif 4"	Optical-size serif
"Literata"	Literary serif

print(waxwing.list_fonts())
# ['Noto Sans', 'Source Sans 3', 'Source Serif 4', 'Literata']

waxwing.set_font("Source Serif 4")

Color palettes

All palettes live in waxwing.palettes and are plain Python lists of hex strings, so they work anywhere Matplotlib accepts a color sequence. YOu can also use them with seaborn.

from waxwing import palettes

ax.plot(x, y, color=palettes.clay[1])
ax.set_prop_cycle(color=palettes.spring)

# seaborn:
sns.color_palette(palettes.savanna)

# reversed colormap:
palettes.waxwing[::-1]

Categorical

Palette	Colors	Character
wax	6	yellow, red, green, gold, blue, violet
clay	5	warm earth tones
fruit	5	vibrant warm hues
matcha	5	muted purples and pastels
earth	5	dark browns and teal
lichen	8	greens, ochre, and lavender
solid	5	bold primaries
sport	5	vivid cyan, purple, gold

Sequential (dark → light)

Palette	Colors	Character
waxwing	7	warm taupe → off-white
twilight	6	navy → lavender → grey
canopy	6	forest green → cream
glacier	6	deep blue → near-white

Diverging

Palette	Colors	Character
savanna	6	brown ↔ olive green
heath	6	warm brown ↔ cool green
coastline	6	slate blue ↔ mauve

Large categorical cycle: spring

spring contains 31 colors organized in five tonal cycles (vivid → pale → dark → mid → near-black, plus greys). It is designed to support figures with many series while maintaining visual coherence.

ax.set_prop_cycle(color=palettes.spring)

Requirements

• Python ≥ 3.8
• matplotlib

Development

Creating image in readme of current color palettes:

python create_palettes.py

Adding a new font:

Only add fonts with licenses that allow distribution.

1. Obtain the Variable font or each weight as separate ttf. I select 350 i.e. 'Book' as the default font weight, which is typically not provided but can be created from Variable fonts.
2. If needed, instance the font into a static .ttf:

pip install fonttools
fonttools varLib.instancer \
  SourceSans3-VariableFont_wght.ttf \
  wght=350 \
  -o SourceSans3-Book.ttf

3. Save copies under fonts/Name/static/[Name]-Light.ttf (or Medium, Regular, etc)
4. Update waxwing.py: _font_files and FontName variables with Name and paths to the static font weight files