Interview with Khara Plicanic, CreativePro

David Blatner Khara Plicanic

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Khara Plicanic wears a lot of (figurative) hats. She has written several awesome books about Photoshop and InDesign, authored a bunch of great online video training, designed and built a wide array of templates for crafters and photographers, and presented many highly-rated sessions at live and online events, including CreativePro Week! (Plus, on top of all that, she’s an awesome mom.)

And now, we are so pleased to announce that CreativePro has hired Khara as our new Program and Speaker Development Manager! So if you’ve ever thought, “hey, I’d love to share and teach,” she’s the right person to connect with.

Khara is also speaking at our upcoming online event, The Design + Marketing Summit. So we caught up with her and asked her a few questions of our own. Her answers might surprise you!

Q: How did you first get into this industry, professionally?

I worked as a graphic designer and photographer for a local non-profit, with an incredible boss who supported me and encouraged me in all sorts of wild endeavors and pursuits. Eventually, I left to run my own photo studio and teach full time and soon realized there was a painful knowledge gap between the world of portrait photography and the realm of graphic design.

I discovered that unwitting photographers were attempting to build entire wedding albums in Photoshop and it just killed me. With so many colleagues drowning in nightmare workflows, always falling behind, and never getting to spend time with their families while capturing memories for everyone else’s, I decided I’d try and help by introducing photographers to what graphic artists and layout people already knew—the magic of InDesign.

I’ve been speaking, writing, and teaching ever since.

Q: Favorite tool or resource you’d hate working without?

Bridge! I’ve been around long enough to remember when Bridge was a hot mess, but that was a long time ago. It’s indispensable nowadays and if you’re not using it, you probably should be!

Q: What are you most excited to share in your upcoming session?

At The Design + Marketing Summit, I’m presenting a session about how to find creative resources, like fonts and images and templates and all kinds of assets. It’s a fun topic and I feel like I could go on forever about all the resources that help me do my job, making me forever grateful. Discovering a new resource has the potential to unlock all kinds of new ideas, so I can’t wait to share and crack open some fresh inspiration for everyone!

Also, I’ve been using Canva quite a bit lately to create simple animated overlays and motion graphics for video and it’s been super helpful. Lots of tips and tricks to share about that, too.

Khara (rhymes with Sara!) Plicanic, at CreativePro Week 2022

Q: Favorite thing about CreativePro?

You mean besides the fact that the website has the answer to every question I have, before I even know I have it? Seriously, every time I have to look up how to do something—even random, obscure stuff—it seems like there’s always an article somewhere on the CP website with exactly the solution I need.

But naturally, the most incredible thing about CreativePro is the people. The team, the speakers, the attendees. Everyone. All of it. I’ve admired the work of everyone involved with CP for years—caring, generous souls whose creativity and desire to help others is inspiring. Who wouldn’t love that?

Q: Pivotal moment in your career?

I distinctly remember the moment when I realized—as a young, new designer—that I was on the right track in my career and my skill building. It had nothing to do with learning a new trick or software hack, but rather, it was a moment at a live event where I was able to watch a much-respected instructor work their way through a design challenge live, on screen, that they hadn’t seen before. In other words, I got to see their process as they problem-solved in real time, on the fly, without all the prep work that precedes most presentations.

It’s easy as a newbie to think that to be good, you have to be perfect. That you have to be able to summon the perfect blend mode, filter setting, or pantone swatch on demand, out of thin air and on-demand. So when I saw an instructor trying things, undoing and throwing away things, and trying different things, I was like, “Hey! That’s how I do it too!”

It was a powerful realization. Now, as an instructor myself, I always remind people that I didn’t pull answers or design choices out of a hat. I experimented and found my way there through trial and error like anyone else. It’s crucial for providing a more realistic, balanced, and representative example to new learners. I’ll happily share the mess behind the curtain if it helps others feel inspired and empowered.