X2 (Every Colour Scheme Ever Colour Scheme) Colour Scheme
- Thread starter Ashtagon
- Start date
New file upload. Guyana colour not yet finalised. Changes:
2015-12-06:
Guyana on notice to change due to similarity to Peru (expect a saturation reduction).
Colours for political borders changed for consistency (lighter border now always means lower-level boundary).
2015-12-08:
Colours for South Africa region (Zimbabwe etc.) finalised.
Adjusted formula for paler shades of high-luminosity colours, to give more visual contrast between the lighter shades. This change affects about 5% of all colours, and is most visible on Manchuria and Japan.
2015-12-09:
Rwanda and Burundi colours finalised.
Yunnan (Dali/Nanzhao) colour finalised.
http://ashtagon.deviantart.com/art/X2-Every-Colour-Scheme-Ever-Colour-Colour-Scheme-574734911
2015-12-06:
Guyana on notice to change due to similarity to Peru (expect a saturation reduction).
Colours for political borders changed for consistency (lighter border now always means lower-level boundary).
2015-12-08:
Colours for South Africa region (Zimbabwe etc.) finalised.
Adjusted formula for paler shades of high-luminosity colours, to give more visual contrast between the lighter shades. This change affects about 5% of all colours, and is most visible on Manchuria and Japan.
2015-12-09:
Rwanda and Burundi colours finalised.
Yunnan (Dali/Nanzhao) colour finalised.
http://ashtagon.deviantart.com/art/X2-Every-Colour-Scheme-Ever-Colour-Colour-Scheme-574734911
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I think I've finally got a set of colours for Africa I think I may be happy with.
With existing African colours, there is a very small palette, which often sees the same colour used for multiple areas. It didn't help that Ghana ambiguously refers to both the modern state and a landlocked medieval empire that did not cover the same area at all. I ended up creating a lot of these colours from scratch. I ended up having to change the Ghana colour because it was too similar to the Mali colour, and I wanted something at least nominally "gold" in hue to reflect one of the region's historical names (and its major industry).
Not shown in the attached image (but part of the X2 colour scheme) are:
I'll be uploading the latest X2 colour scheme update tomorrow.
With existing African colours, there is a very small palette, which often sees the same colour used for multiple areas. It didn't help that Ghana ambiguously refers to both the modern state and a landlocked medieval empire that did not cover the same area at all. I ended up creating a lot of these colours from scratch. I ended up having to change the Ghana colour because it was too similar to the Mali colour, and I wanted something at least nominally "gold" in hue to reflect one of the region's historical names (and its major industry).
Not shown in the attached image (but part of the X2 colour scheme) are:
- eastern Tuaregs/interior Libyan state
- northern Tuaregs/interior Algerian state
- southern Tuaregs/Mali separatists/Azawad
- Biafra
- upper Egypt
- South Sudan
- Somaliland
- Congo-Stanleyville
- Congo-Élisabethville
I'll be uploading the latest X2 colour scheme update tomorrow.
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Update is now uploaded. Still not entirely sure about Guinea though -- looks too close to Zaire.
2015-12-11:
Ghana colour changed to pale gold.
West African mainland finalised in full.
Remaining major areas to do are: US states, Central America, Guyana.
Edit: Guinea is definitely changing. That will be the last change in Africa for a long while though, I promise.
2015-12-11:
Ghana colour changed to pale gold.
West African mainland finalised in full.
Remaining major areas to do are: US states, Central America, Guyana.
Edit: Guinea is definitely changing. That will be the last change in Africa for a long while though, I promise.
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Draft for colours for Central America. I wanted all of these to be in the blue end of the spectrum, creating a "blue theme" for central America, but I'm not sure there's enough visual distinctiveness in that space for this many close neighbours.
Caribbean island colours are fixed. On the mainland:
Caribbean island colours are fixed. On the mainland:
- Mexico: fixed
- Belize: draft (deep green)
- Guatemala: fixed (dark reddish brown)
- El Salvador: fixed (light blue)
- Honduras: draft (brownish green)
- Nicaragua: fixed (dark blue)
- Costa Rica: draft (light greenish blue)
- Panama: draft (light greenish brown)
- Colombia: fixed (light brown)
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I think I'm happy with this version...
(swatch boxes are Mexico territory colour and USA main colour)
New version uploaded to deviantart HERE
Fun fact: Belize and Honduras have the exact same hue, as do El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.
2015-12-18:
Rio Grande colour changed (fixing a previous mistake; from MCS African union to TACOS Rio Grande)
Central America colours finalised.
Edit: And having made the big upload, I just noticed that Honduras is almost identical to Chile. Back to the drawing board.
(swatch boxes are Mexico territory colour and USA main colour)
New version uploaded to deviantart HERE
Fun fact: Belize and Honduras have the exact same hue, as do El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.
2015-12-18:
Rio Grande colour changed (fixing a previous mistake; from MCS African union to TACOS Rio Grande)
Central America colours finalised.
Edit: And having made the big upload, I just noticed that Honduras is almost identical to Chile. Back to the drawing board.
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Uploaded a revised version of the scheme to deviantart.
This should be the definite final colour choices for Central America. At this point, if any of these will change, it would be Belize.
Explanation of choices:
This should be the definite final colour choices for Central America. At this point, if any of these will change, it would be Belize.
Explanation of choices:
- Belize: ARCS Aztecs (reminiscent of UK pink colour)
- Guatemala: black coffee colour
- El Salvador: One of the more popular light blues for C. America
- Honduras: darker variant of El Salvador, reflecting darker blue used in national flag
- Nicaragua: paler coffee colour, reflecting colours used in historical flag
- Costa Rica: greyer variant of El Salvador
- Panama: Blend of other constituent nations of Gran Colombia
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I'll need to investigate that when I get home.
fwiw, My main editing program is Excel. When exporting the image, I copy the relevant part of the sheet, paste it into Paintshop Pro, save as png, then upload to deviantart. If you notice any other colour discrepancies, please do let me know. Is it possible that a compression artifact may have entered into the process this way? Is it the download link version you looked at, or one of the versions from the web page view you examined?
The number values (not the actual image colour) should be considered canonical where there is a difference.
Edit: I just verified that these colour issues are real. This is awkward. Once I'm home from holiday travels I'll be able to investigate where in the production process the colours are going wrong.
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Chicxulub
Banned
Nearly every color is off by 1-5... that is a serious problem, a possibility is that it is Deviant Art. Or maybe it is Paintshop Pro compression?
Possibly relevant; will need to investigate once I'm home:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2002066
https://support.office.com/en-us/ar...pression-81a6b603-0266-4451-b08e-fc1bf58da658
Edit: Above links not relevant. Preparing to manually edit each colour cell.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2002066
https://support.office.com/en-us/ar...pression-81a6b603-0266-4451-b08e-fc1bf58da658
Edit: Above links not relevant. Preparing to manually edit each colour cell.
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So it seems the problem is that Excel's export to image routines reduces the colours to 16-bit colour depth, which is what causes the lost colour detail. Trying the same trick with Open office is even worse; that program's export to image routine uses a dithering pattern rather than the 24-bit colour depth that is needed.
I'm slowly going through the X2 colours, manually correcting the colours that have been exported by Excel. What used to be a simple "save as" task is now a three-day affair. Hopefully though, I'll only need to do the big job once, unless I screw things up really badly.
New version should be up within a week of today.
I'm slowly going through the X2 colours, manually correcting the colours that have been exported by Excel. What used to be a simple "save as" task is now a three-day affair. Hopefully though, I'll only need to do the big job once, unless I screw things up really badly.
New version should be up within a week of today.
2016-1-6:
- Okinawa darker shade corrected to have white text.
- Sub-national border colours changed again (still not 100% happy with these).
- Minor adjustments to Turkmenistan, Nicaragua, and Guinea colours.
- MAJOR FIX: The 16-bit colour depth compression error has been fixed. All colours now have the same value for the text and the image colour.
Now that the scheme is in a mostly stable and usable form, I'm looking for collaboration in where to develop this scheme next. So, some questions:
Guyana and Belize: These two currently use colours that are rather similar to Peru and Mexico (respectively). On the other hand, Guyana's colour at least is fairly well-established in existing colour schemes and has never attracted any controversy. Do they really need changing?
The large list of minor countries: There are many rows in the grid that are listed as minor countries, quite a few of which I have noted as probably never to receive a specific colour of their own (I'm looking at you, Kiribati). Should I leave them as is, remove them from the table entirely, or leave them in as a footnote somehow?
General: Are there any political entities that I have missed off from this list? Are there any colours that make you think "why on earth is it that colour for that nation?"
Belgium: Split off Wallonia and Flanders? Which would get to retain the Belgium colour?
Hungary/Malaysia/Burkina Faso: These three all use a very dark blue-green colour. I'm thinking of lightening up all three a bit to better reflect the brightness level of their neighbours, and simultaneously make their darker shades clearer from their base colours. However, in two of these cases, the base colours are well-established. Should I change them?
Greece Region: Have I got enough colours to represent historical ancient Greece scenarios? If not, what do I need to add?
South Africa: Should I add an additional colour to represent an additional native people? Xhosa (due to their limited recognition by apartheid govts.) seem to be the most likely candidate if any, but I'm not that familiar with the regional history. It may also be worth creating a colour for the Zulu separate from Lesotho, as these are separate ethnic groups.
Japan: Is the paler shade visually distinctive enough? If not, I may have to darken the base colour, as there's not a lot of room in the lighter shades for yellow, as it is already very bright as a base colour.
Guyana and Belize: These two currently use colours that are rather similar to Peru and Mexico (respectively). On the other hand, Guyana's colour at least is fairly well-established in existing colour schemes and has never attracted any controversy. Do they really need changing?
The large list of minor countries: There are many rows in the grid that are listed as minor countries, quite a few of which I have noted as probably never to receive a specific colour of their own (I'm looking at you, Kiribati). Should I leave them as is, remove them from the table entirely, or leave them in as a footnote somehow?
General: Are there any political entities that I have missed off from this list? Are there any colours that make you think "why on earth is it that colour for that nation?"
Belgium: Split off Wallonia and Flanders? Which would get to retain the Belgium colour?
Hungary/Malaysia/Burkina Faso: These three all use a very dark blue-green colour. I'm thinking of lightening up all three a bit to better reflect the brightness level of their neighbours, and simultaneously make their darker shades clearer from their base colours. However, in two of these cases, the base colours are well-established. Should I change them?
Greece Region: Have I got enough colours to represent historical ancient Greece scenarios? If not, what do I need to add?
South Africa: Should I add an additional colour to represent an additional native people? Xhosa (due to their limited recognition by apartheid govts.) seem to be the most likely candidate if any, but I'm not that familiar with the regional history. It may also be worth creating a colour for the Zulu separate from Lesotho, as these are separate ethnic groups.
Japan: Is the paler shade visually distinctive enough? If not, I may have to darken the base colour, as there's not a lot of room in the lighter shades for yellow, as it is already very bright as a base colour.
For Guyana and Belize I would leave unless some voices a specific complaint, some colors are going to have to be similar to each other in a scheme so large.
As for minor countries part of me wants to saw "never give up, never surrender!" and leave all the minor countries. However, realistically some should probably be cut. I would, of course, leave any that do have their own color in another scheme. I would cut some of the decolonial constructs such as the individual colors for the Cook Island, Anguilla, Aruba, etc.
Off the top of my head, the only entities I can think of would be the Island of Mann, a color for a unified non-Anglo-Saxon UK, a separate color for different German entities, such as the North German Confederation or a Romance Germany, Communist France or a Blanquist state, I'm sure there are more native nations to add but I'm not familiar enough with them to be able to suggest examples.
Wallonia should keep the color of Belgium. The reasoning, the French speaking Netherlanders are commonly scene as the major cause of the Belgian Revolution, ergo the French speaking region keeps the color.
For Hungry, Malaysia, and Burkina Faso see the comment on Guyana and Belize.
For Greece a color for Mycenae for any really early timelines might be nice, the only other I can think of would possibly be Corinth. Separating Athens and the Byzantine I think would be a good idea. Lastly, I would as a note about using an outline of existing colors for things such as the Delian league and Peloponnesian league.
For South Africa I would say defiantly separate Zulu and Lesotho, a separate color for Xhosa sound good to me.
As for Japan see comments on Hungry, Malaysia, Burkina Faso, Guyana, and Belize.
As side note something I would do is combined the religion colors to the country whose color they share so that they are still there but you don't need the separate category. Also I think a good idea would be do the same thing with governmental systems, such as representative democracy, constitutional monarchy, absolute monarchy, elective theocracy etc.
As for minor countries part of me wants to saw "never give up, never surrender!" and leave all the minor countries. However, realistically some should probably be cut. I would, of course, leave any that do have their own color in another scheme. I would cut some of the decolonial constructs such as the individual colors for the Cook Island, Anguilla, Aruba, etc.
Off the top of my head, the only entities I can think of would be the Island of Mann, a color for a unified non-Anglo-Saxon UK, a separate color for different German entities, such as the North German Confederation or a Romance Germany, Communist France or a Blanquist state, I'm sure there are more native nations to add but I'm not familiar enough with them to be able to suggest examples.
Wallonia should keep the color of Belgium. The reasoning, the French speaking Netherlanders are commonly scene as the major cause of the Belgian Revolution, ergo the French speaking region keeps the color.
For Hungry, Malaysia, and Burkina Faso see the comment on Guyana and Belize.
For Greece a color for Mycenae for any really early timelines might be nice, the only other I can think of would possibly be Corinth. Separating Athens and the Byzantine I think would be a good idea. Lastly, I would as a note about using an outline of existing colors for things such as the Delian league and Peloponnesian league.
For South Africa I would say defiantly separate Zulu and Lesotho, a separate color for Xhosa sound good to me.
As for Japan see comments on Hungry, Malaysia, Burkina Faso, Guyana, and Belize.
As side note something I would do is combined the religion colors to the country whose color they share so that they are still there but you don't need the separate category. Also I think a good idea would be do the same thing with governmental systems, such as representative democracy, constitutional monarchy, absolute monarchy, elective theocracy etc.
I missed a colour for a unified and for a Communist Scandinavia which I had to use in my TL. Chose the "EU" colour for it as a scapegoat, as Sweden's colour might have been too similar to metropolitan France. I would also advocate a colour for Courland and a unified Baltics.