Several ways exist to avoid creating a spaghetti plot, and one of them is using small multiple: here we cut the window in several subplots, one per group. Then, you can choose to display every group discretely, or not to show them at all. Note that you can easily do the same with the area chart.
Left graph
You can create multiple plots on the same figure by using the subplot() function of matplotlib.
Note that you can check this post to see more examples of the subplot() function.
# libraries
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
# Make a data frame
df=pd.DataFrame({'x': range(1,11), 'y1': np.random.randn(10), 'y2': np.random.randn(10)+range(1,11), 'y3': np.random.randn(10)+range(11,21), 'y4': np.random.randn(10)+range(6,16), 'y5': np.random.randn(10)+range(4,14)+(0,0,0,0,0,0,0,-3,-8,-6), 'y6': np.random.randn(10)+range(2,12), 'y7': np.random.randn(10)+range(5,15), 'y8': np.random.randn(10)+range(4,14), 'y9': np.random.randn(10)+range(4,14) })
# Initialize the figure style
plt.style.use('seaborn-darkgrid')
# create a color palette
palette = plt.get_cmap('Set1')
# multiple line plot
num=0
for column in df.drop('x', axis=1):
num+=1
# Find the right spot on the plot
plt.subplot(3,3, num)
# Plot the lineplot
plt.plot(df['x'], df[column], marker='', color=palette(num), linewidth=1.9, alpha=0.9, label=column)
# Same limits for every chart
plt.xlim(0,10)
plt.ylim(-2,22)
# Not ticks everywhere
if num in range(7) :
plt.tick_params(labelbottom='off')
if num not in [1,4,7] :
plt.tick_params(labelleft='off')
# Add title
plt.title(column, loc='left', fontsize=12, fontweight=0, color=palette(num) )
# general title
plt.suptitle("How the 9 students improved\nthese past few days?", fontsize=13, fontweight=0, color='black', style='italic', y=1.02)
# Axis titles
plt.text(0.5, 0.02, 'Time', ha='center', va='center')
plt.text(0.06, 0.5, 'Note', ha='center', va='center', rotation='vertical')
# Show the graph
plt.show()
Right graph
As an alternative to the previous example, you can make multiple subplots consisting the lines of all groups with only one group highlighted in each subplot.
# libraries
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
# Make a data frame
df=pd.DataFrame({'x': range(1,11), 'y1': np.random.randn(10), 'y2': np.random.randn(10)+range(1,11), 'y3': np.random.randn(10)+range(11,21), 'y4': np.random.randn(10)+range(6,16), 'y5': np.random.randn(10)+range(4,14)+(0,0,0,0,0,0,0,-3,-8,-6), 'y6': np.random.randn(10)+range(2,12), 'y7': np.random.randn(10)+range(5,15), 'y8': np.random.randn(10)+range(4,14), 'y9': np.random.randn(10)+range(4,14) })
# Initialize the figure style
plt.style.use('seaborn-darkgrid')
# create a color palette
palette = plt.get_cmap('Set1')
# multiple line plot
num=0
for column in df.drop('x', axis=1):
num+=1
# Find the right spot on the plot
plt.subplot(3,3, num)
# plot every group, but discrete
for v in df.drop('x', axis=1):
plt.plot(df['x'], df[v], marker='', color='grey', linewidth=0.6, alpha=0.3)
# Plot the lineplot
plt.plot(df['x'], df[column], marker='', color=palette(num), linewidth=2.4, alpha=0.9, label=column)
# Same limits for every chart
plt.xlim(0,10)
plt.ylim(-2,22)
# Not ticks everywhere
if num in range(7) :
plt.tick_params(labelbottom='off')
if num not in [1,4,7] :
plt.tick_params(labelleft='off')
# Add title
plt.title(column, loc='left', fontsize=12, fontweight=0, color=palette(num) )
# general title
plt.suptitle("How the 9 students improved\nthese past few days?", fontsize=13, fontweight=0, color='black', style='italic', y=1.02)
# Axis titles
plt.text(0.5, 0.02, 'Time', ha='center', va='center')
plt.text(0.06, 0.5, 'Note', ha='center', va='center', rotation='vertical')
# Show the graph
plt.show()
