mapmaking patterns

Highly saturated, dark colors will pop, draw the eye, rise to the top of your visual hierarchy, and potentially overwhelm the senses.

On print maps, unsaturated, bright colors can distinguish different kinds of areal things without drawing much attention to the colors themselves. However, increasing saturation will increase contrast.

Use unsaturated colors for elements that you want to put in the ground. Increase saturation to taste in order to increase the visual contrast of elements. Use more saturated colors for elements that you want to elevate to figure or towards the top of your visual hierarchy.