Utilizing AI as a Designer: Adobe Firefly, Illustrator & Photoshop’s AI Features

As artificial intelligence continues to progress and advance, it’s important to be aware of how it can be added to your creative toolbelt as a designer. Adobe’s creative suite has many incredibly helpful and easy to use AI components powered by Adobe Firefly. Here’s a quick guide on how to utilize these tools in your work as a designer.  

Adobe Firefly is Adobe’s latest AI platform, designed to push the boundaries of creative expression. It integrates advanced machine learning models to assist in generating and enhancing visual content. It is also the program that powers the AI capabilities of other Adobe programs like Illustrator and Photoshop. Here’s how to use it effectively: 

• Text to Image: With text to image, you can be as specific or as broad as you want when entering your prompt. Firefly will also give prompt suggestions to help further home in on the image you’re looking to generate. This can be used as a jumping-off point when coming up with an idea, as a stock photo alternative or even for finding that perfect reference image.  

• Styles/Effects: After you’ve entered a prompt in Firefly, you can manage your image’s style and effects. You can choose a pre-existing style reference image, or you can upload your own. You can also use the slider to manage your new image’s visual intensity. With effects, you can manage different art styles, mediums, materials, lighting and more. Just like with your prompt, you can be as specific or as broad as you’d like.  

• Composition: Similar to “style,” you can choose a pre-existing reference image or upload your own reference image for composition. This is great for capturing a specific mood, camera angle or orientation for the image you’re trying to generate. 

Adobe Photoshop utilizes Firefly’s generative fill capabilities to make editing, expanding and adding to your images easy and seamless. 

• Content-Aware Fill: Content-aware fill allows you to expand images while filling in the gaps with AI-generated imagery. This allows you to change the aspect ratio of an image without having to worry about tediously filling in empty space using old cloning methods. 

• Adding and Removing with Gen AI: Utilizing content-aware fill, you can add to or remove from images, and Adobe’s generative AI will fill in the gaps. To add to a photo, select to fit your generated image and enough space to blend it with the base image. To make an even more precise selection, use the lasso tool to make a selection in the shape of the image you want to generate. Then, simply enter in your prompt, but be as clear and specific as possible for the best possible result. The same process can be applied when removing unwanted parts of an image. Simply select what you want to remove and click “generative fill.”  

Adobe Illustrator harnesses AI to quickly generate vector graphics and recolor vectors with ease to streamline the design process. 

• Text to Vector Graphic: Text to Vector Graphic is a generative AI feature where you can quickly and easily create scalable vector graphics with a simple text prompt, including icons, scenes, subjects and patterns. 

• Generative Recolor: Generative Recolor enables you to recolor artwork using simple text prompts to achieve color variations in seconds or choose from a preset color palette.  

To summarize, get started with utilizing Adobe’s AI functions to your benefit as a designer by:

• Updating Your Software: Ensure you have the latest versions of Adobe Creative Cloud apps to access the newest AI functionalities and stay on top of the latest AI trends and capabilities.
• Exploring Tutorials: Adobe offers a library of tutorials and resources to help you get familiarized with these AI tools and their capabilities. There are also many creators, designers and art directors who upload videos and guides on how to use different Adobe programs.
• Experimenting: Take time to experiment with different AI features to understand their potential and find the best ways to integrate them into your workflow. Try new things and find ways to integrate these tools in a way that works for you!

Incorporating these AI functions into your creative process will help you streamline tasks, help with creative ideation and keep you on the forefront as a designer. In a world where AI is constantly changing and evolving, it’s important to stay up to date on the latest tools and assets you can use to your advantage.  

Julia Hosang served as Franco’s 2024 Design Intern. Connect with her on LinkedIn.