Expirmenting with coloured maps and borders

[krostatina]

Thank you Kell and Tiana for the advices that I am sure it will come handy to me too in the future.
I can't give much advice as I'm a beginner too, but as a consumer I actually like the sea pattern as it is (including the pixelness when zoomed in) it is something I never seen so far and it gives an interesting "textile" effect. The only problem for me is that it maybe doesn't fit with the thick lines of the rest of the map. But on its own is not an idea to throw away.
If I can nitpick the colour, the snow on the mountain is applied with a too thick paintbrush and you can see the single strokes (which might be an artistic choice, but in this instance it's not consistent in the rest of the map). And there are also a few instances in which the road layer shows through the sea and forest.
Overall it looks good, if you want to keep a simple and minimal look I would try a geometric pattern on the border with a brush similar to the one you used in the legend border and the coastline.