Transparent backgrounds in Matplotlib - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Transparent backgrounds

📖 Scenario: You are creating a simple line plot to visualize sales data over a week. You want to save the plot image with a transparent background so it can be used on different colored web pages without a white box around it.

🎯 Goal: Build a line plot using matplotlib and save the image with a transparent background.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a list of sales numbers for 7 days

Create a list of day names for the x-axis

Plot the sales data as a line chart

Save the plot image with a transparent background

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Transparent backgrounds in plots are useful when you want to overlay charts on different colored backgrounds in presentations or websites without a white box around the image.

💼 Career

Data scientists and analysts often need to create clean, professional visuals that integrate seamlessly into reports and dashboards. Knowing how to save images with transparent backgrounds helps in producing polished deliverables.

1

Create sales data and days list

Create a list called sales with these exact values: [150, 200, 170, 220, 180, 210, 190]. Also create a list called days with these exact values: ["Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri", "Sat", "Sun"].

Matplotlib

# Create the sales and days lists below
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use square brackets to create lists. Separate values with commas.

2

Import matplotlib and set up plot

Import matplotlib.pyplot as plt. Then create a line plot using plt.plot(days, sales).

Matplotlib

sales = [150, 200, 170, 220, 180, 210, 190]
days = ["Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri", "Sat", "Sun"]
# Import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# Create a line plot with plt.plot(days, sales)
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use import matplotlib.pyplot as plt to import. Then call plt.plot(days, sales) to create the line chart.

3

Save the plot with transparent background

Save the plot image as sales_plot.png using plt.savefig with the argument transparent=True to make the background transparent.

Matplotlib

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

sales = [150, 200, 170, 220, 180, 210, 190]
days = ["Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri", "Sat", "Sun"]

plt.plot(days, sales)
# Save the plot as 'sales_plot.png' with transparent background
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use plt.savefig("sales_plot.png", transparent=True) to save with a transparent background.

4

Display the plot

Use plt.show() to display the plot on the screen.

Matplotlib

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

sales = [150, 200, 170, 220, 180, 210, 190]
days = ["Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri", "Sat", "Sun"]

plt.plot(days, sales)
plt.savefig("sales_plot.png", transparent=True)
# Display the plot
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Call plt.show() to see the plot window.