I can really recommend using HSLuv for this kind of thing. I used to use regular RGB values (like #f2cdaa), but it's hard to make features on the map "a bit less blue" without accidentally changing other properties. For example, changing #f2cdaa to #f2cd88 makes it less blue, but also darker.
So a few years ago I switched to using HSL in our stylesheets (and using the HSL tab in the Inkscape colour picker) which makes it easier to reason about the colour changes. But there's still some problems with HSL, as the article describes. For example when choosing road colours, I often want to keep the saturation and lightness the same, but when I make minor roads yellow the change in hue really changes the perceived brightness in HSL.
So HSLuv is great for what I do, since I know that if I get the brightness and saturation of the roads the way I want, I can mess around with the hue without any side effects. Or if I like the colour of the forests but want them slightly less saturated, again no side effects when I make changes.
The big drawback is that there aren't many colour pickers available in HSLuv, mainly just the one on https://www.hsluv.org/ . I haven't found e.g. HSLuv colour picker plugins for Inkscape or the GIMP yet.
I dislike strongly the look and feel of most Thunderforest maps. It may look "modern" but when you want to actually read a map, having light green symbols on a slightly lighter green background is ridiculous.
https://cartocss.readthedocs.io/en/latest/language_elements....
I can really recommend using HSLuv for this kind of thing. I used to use regular RGB values (like #f2cdaa), but it's hard to make features on the map "a bit less blue" without accidentally changing other properties. For example, changing #f2cdaa to #f2cd88 makes it less blue, but also darker.
So a few years ago I switched to using HSL in our stylesheets (and using the HSL tab in the Inkscape colour picker) which makes it easier to reason about the colour changes. But there's still some problems with HSL, as the article describes. For example when choosing road colours, I often want to keep the saturation and lightness the same, but when I make minor roads yellow the change in hue really changes the perceived brightness in HSL.
So HSLuv is great for what I do, since I know that if I get the brightness and saturation of the roads the way I want, I can mess around with the hue without any side effects. Or if I like the colour of the forests but want them slightly less saturated, again no side effects when I make changes.
The big drawback is that there aren't many colour pickers available in HSLuv, mainly just the one on https://www.hsluv.org/ . I haven't found e.g. HSLuv colour picker plugins for Inkscape or the GIMP yet.