So Monica gave me the idea to share how I've done my "minimalist" graphic design on my paper (and elecctronic) products. A bunch of this info is in my bio but all over the place, but here is some help for those of you who don't own photoshop and don't really know anything about this stuff.
I did all my paper products using Gimp (which is a free program very much like photoshop) and a free palm tree "brush" (aka stamp) I found on the internet (it's literally like an electronic stamp that you can resize in many different sizes and put whatever colors you want).
Here are links to everything in case you'd like to copy. I recommend you google for "free photoshop brushes" or "free photoshop brushes palm tree" if you are looking for other palm trees (or insert a description of what you're looking for. I found very pretty orchid brushes for instance). Even though they say they are "photoshop brushes," they will still install/work on Gimp, so it doesn't matter. But that will give you the most hits and there are a
million out there (i spent days finding the right one).
Here's the link to the programs:
Gimp (Photoshop like program) -
http://www.gimp.org/ Palm Tree Stamp/Brush that I used -
http://qbrushes.net/nature/palm-trees-photoshop-brushes/ Script font I used -- Cygnet Round, free font from:
http://www.fonts4free.net/cygnet-round-font.htmlOther font used: Century School Book -
http://www.font-zone.com/download.php?fid=2166(just google "free fonts" and you'll get a bagillion hits
The harder part of all this is actually committing to something. I decided that the more minimalist (less colors, less stuff, more whitespace) the more likely it was going to look "cool" (and that people woulnd't notice I did it
HTH someone!