diff --git a/src/backends/unicodeplots.jl b/src/backends/unicodeplots.jl
index 9e697f1b0..f5e348342 100644
--- a/src/backends/unicodeplots.jl
+++ b/src/backends/unicodeplots.jl
@@ -45,6 +45,18 @@ end
 
 # -------------------------------
 
+const _canvas_type = Ref(:auto)
+
+function _canvas_map()
+    KW(
+        :braille => UnicodePlots.BrailleCanvas,
+        :ascii => UnicodePlots.AsciiCanvas,
+        :block => UnicodePlots.BlockCanvas,
+        :dot => UnicodePlots.DotCanvas,
+        :density => UnicodePlots.DensityCanvas,
+    )
+end
+
 
 # do all the magic here... build it all at once, since we need to know about all the series at the very beginning
 function rebuildUnicodePlot!(plt::Plot, width, height)
@@ -66,7 +78,12 @@ function rebuildUnicodePlot!(plt::Plot, width, height)
         y = Float64[ylim[1]]
 
         # create a plot window with xlim/ylim set, but the X/Y vectors are outside the bounds
-        canvas_type = isijulia() ? UnicodePlots.AsciiCanvas : UnicodePlots.BrailleCanvas
+        ct = _canvas_type[]
+        canvas_type = if ct == :auto
+            isijulia() ? UnicodePlots.AsciiCanvas : UnicodePlots.BrailleCanvas
+        else
+            _canvas_map()[ct]
+        end
 
         # special handling for spy
         if length(sp.series_list) == 1