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Originally Posted by JoshStolarz
Both styles definitely work, and I suppose it depends on what you want a viewer to feel looking at the map. Personally, I do like the less saturated colors in the second map, but feel like you need to build visual contrast between the land and the water. If you squint at it, I think the values are too similar which causes the land to get a little lost. So if you darken the values of the water I think it will help give that extra pop.
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