I really like the book's subchapter on colours, wish it was even more elaborated on. Colours are one of the subtle things I so often find difficult to get right.
As to using matplotlib in published research: when I started out as an undergrad, everybody in the research team used OriginLab for plotting -- my impression of it then was pretty good. At some point, I started using matplotlib + Latex + science plots and it caught on, mostly because there's no need to shift all the data around to a separate programme. Scienceplots package does heavy lifting with fonts and styling for specific journals, so it's just a matter of designing the right plot geometry and information density [1].
As to using matplotlib in published research: when I started out as an undergrad, everybody in the research team used OriginLab for plotting -- my impression of it then was pretty good. At some point, I started using matplotlib + Latex + science plots and it caught on, mostly because there's no need to shift all the data around to a separate programme. Scienceplots package does heavy lifting with fonts and styling for specific journals, so it's just a matter of designing the right plot geometry and information density [1].
[1] an obligatory Tufte citation.