“The Benefits of Canva Pro” By Olivia Christiansen

By now everyone has heard the joke that the average person thinks they can become a true “graphic designer” by using Canva. While that might not be entirely true, Canva (especially their Pro subscription) is a great resource for communications professionals!

This past year, as our Chapter’s vice president of visual communication, creating materials on Canva Pro has become part of my weekly routine. I used the program to create all of the graphics used on our Chapter’s social media accounts, our Chapter’s newsletter, PR Success, and other PRSSA related images and promotional material. After spending so much time using Canva Pro, I have discovered which functions and features have been the most beneficial.

Templates

Canva is known for their wide range of templates for promotional materials, event invitations, social media posts and graphics of all sorts. With Canva Pro, users have access to over 400,000 templates—there is a design for everything! These templates are a great starting point when making graphics and allow the editor to make changes to their liking. 

Collaboration

Collaborating with other team members is so easy with Canva! Simply share the link to your design with your collaborators and you are able to work on the piece simultaneously.

Brand Kit

I cannot stress how much I love the brand kit feature on Canva Pro! Users are able to put together different color palettes, upload their logo and select specific fonts to make up their brand kit. This feature allows for consistency across designs and makes the creative processes easier and more efficient.

Video

Editing videos is a breeze on Canva. The program has different templates for your video, but you are also able to make your own. Stock images and videos, as well as royalty-free audio, are all featured on Canva and can be used to spruce up any video you might make.

Content Planner

Did you know you can schedule social media posts directly from Canva? Canva Pro has its own content planner tool that enables users to publish their designs directly to their platforms and schedule posts ahead of time.

Magic Resize

I cannot tell you how many times I have accidentally made a graphic the wrong size and struggled to convert my design to fit the size it was supposed to be—enter magic resize. This feature allows users to select the size they are switching to and automatically resizes the design, it is a lifesaver!

Background Remover

Canva Pro comes with some great photo editing features, but background remover is by far my favorite. The background remover does exactly what the name implies—removes the background of photos. While this might not sound too exciting, the removal is typically so accurate and clean, but the feature allows you to restore or remove more of the background if you are not satisfied with the automatic removal. It has allowed me to do some fun, yet professional looking, edits!

Creating materials on Canva Pro has been so easy and so much fun! It is safe to say that Canva Pro is definitely worth the subscription price because of all it allows users to do. I cannot express how great of a tool the program is for businesses, organizations and people looking to promote themselves.

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