Chart Prompts

1,337 ways to dress a line or bar chart, 669 light and 668 dark. Open any chart to see it full size and copy a prompt that gives your own chart the same look.

Every chart uses illustrative data. The prompts work with any coding agent and any charting library; they describe colors, type, spacing and marks precisely enough to reproduce each look.

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Business Cycle line chart, dark theme: Dark output-gap line with named rust recession bands, numbered notes and a glossary.

Business Cycle

DarkLine

Dark output-gap line with named rust recession bands, numbered notes and a glossary.

  • Blue-gray#1B2330
  • Warm white#F3EBDD
  • Muted rust#8A4A36
  • Faint green#6FA37A
  • Zero line#C9CFD8

Prompt for your coding agent

Paste it with your chart's code. It restyles your data to match this chart.

Restyle my chart in the "Business Cycle" style described below. Keep my data, chart type, title meaning and units; change only the presentation. Use the charting library this project already uses (plain SVG if there is none). If the library can't express a detail, draw it in a custom layer instead of dropping it. Measurements assume a 960 x 600 chart; scale them proportionally.

Mood: a patient, authoritative economics explainer at night. A dark blue-gray page, one warm-white line telling a long story, recessions shaded like chapters of a history book, and a margin column that explains the plot in plain words.

Colors (use these exact values):
- Background: #1B2330 (dark blue-gray).
- The data line: #F3EBDD (warm white).
- Recession or event bands: #8A4A36 (muted rust) at 55% opacity, full plot height. Band names: #D9A08A.
- Wash above the zero or reference line: #6FA37A (faint green) at 22% opacity; wash below it: #C0664A at 26% opacity. Their small labels use #6FA37A and #D08A70.
- Zero line: #C9CFD8. Gridlines and column rules: #2C3645. Muted text: #8E98A8.

Typography (Google Fonts):
- Playfair Display 700 for the headline (29px, sentence case, naming the key episode) and for the glossary terms (14px).
- Karla for everything else: subtitle 15px 400 muted, defining the measure, unit, frequency and period; band names 11.5px 700 with 0.3px letter-spacing centered above each band; tick labels 12px muted; section kickers ("WHAT HAPPENED", "GLOSSARY") 11px 700 uppercase with 1.6px letter-spacing; notes 13px warm white; glossary definitions 12.5px muted; wash labels 10px 700 uppercase with 1.2px letter-spacing; source 11.5px.

Layout:
- 56px left margin. Headline near y 62, subtitle at 94, a small band key (a 14 x 10 px rust swatch plus "Recession") at about y 120. Plot from x 72 to 668 and y 168 to 520, with band names 10px above its top edge.
- A right-hand side column starting at x 704, separated by a 1px #2C3645 vertical rule: "WHAT HAPPENED" followed by numbered notes (an 18px circle with the number, then text wrapped at about 27 characters, 17px line height), then a hairline and a "GLOSSARY" defining Peak and Trough in one or two short lines each.
- Source line at the bottom left.

Axes and grid:
- Horizontal gridlines only, 1px #2C3645, every 2 percentage points; labels signed (+2%, -4%) right-aligned 10px left of the plot. The zero line is bold: 2px #C9CFD8, its "0" label 13px 700.
- X labels every five years, 22px below the plot. No axis lines.

Marks:
- Line chart: a single 2.6px warm-white line with round joins through every monthly point (keep the natural month-to-month texture; do not smooth it away). Fill between the line and zero with the green wash above and the rust wash below (clip one closed area path at the zero line). Numbered markers: an 18px circle (#1B2330 fill, 1.5px warm-white stroke, 12px 700 number) placed 24px above a peak or below a trough, joined to the point by a 1px warm-white tick.
- Bar chart: monthly or quarterly bars rising from and falling below the bold zero line, 1px gaps between bars, square ends, filled #6FA37A above zero and #C0664A below at full opacity, with the same rust recession bands behind, the same numbered markers and the same side column.

Labels and annotation:
- Band names sit above the plot, never inside it. Compute every number in the notes and the headline from the data (peak values, the deepest trough, the size and duration of the fastest fall).

Avoid: multiple lines or colors for the data, a legend box, glow effects, bright reds or greens, heavy gridlines, and notes placed on top of the data.

When you're done, render the chart and check that the wash switches color exactly at zero, each numbered marker points at the right peak or trough and matches its note, band names do not collide, and the headline's claim is true for the data.