ggplot2 theme with no axes or grid

Question

I am trying to make a plot with no information beyond the data. No axes; no grid; no title; just the plot.

But I keep getting extra margins and padding that I can't remove.

library(ggplot2) library(grid)  theme_bare <- theme(   axis.line = element_blank(),    axis.text.x = element_blank(),    axis.text.y = element_blank(),   axis.ticks = element_blank(),    axis.title.x = element_blank(),    axis.title.y = element_blank(),    #axis.ticks.length = unit(0, "lines"), # Error    axis.ticks.margin = unit(c(0,0,0,0), "lines"),    legend.position = "none",    panel.background = element_rect(fill = "gray"),    panel.border = element_blank(),    panel.grid.major = element_blank(),    panel.grid.minor = element_blank(),    panel.margin = unit(c(0,0,0,0), "lines"),    plot.background = element_rect(fill = "blue"),   plot.margin = unit(c(0,0,0,0), "lines") )  ggplot() +    geom_area (data=economics, aes(x = date, y = unemploy), linetype=0) +   theme_bare 

Produces this image:

What I want is this:

I can't figure out how to get rid of the blue and make the dark gray flush with the edges.

Could any one offer some advice?

Answer 1

Here is the way to plot only the panel region:

p <- ggplot() + geom_area (data=economics, aes(x = date, y = unemploy), linetype=0) +   scale_x_date(expand = c(0,0)) + scale_y_continuous(expand = c(0,0)) +   theme(line = element_blank(),         text = element_blank(),         title = element_blank())  gt <- ggplot_gtable(ggplot_build(p)) ge <- subset(gt$layout, name == "panel")  grid.draw(gt[ge$t:ge$b, ge$l:ge$r])