R is a highly extensible, open source language and environment for data handling, statistical computing and graphical techniques. One of R’s key strengths is the ease with which well-designed publication-quality graphical plots can be produced. Importantly, from a good practice principles perspective, great care has been taken over the defaults for the minor design choices in graphics whilst allowing the user to retain full control beyond. Many people traditionally think of R as a statistics system but its power and potential as a visualisation tool is significant and its popularity within the field is growing constantly.