Item: Adobe Firefly
Rating: 8
Author: Bill Black

Overall Satisfaction with Adobe Firefly

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I am experimenting with Adobe Firefly in my graphic design business to help me create posters and editorial illustrations. This tool speeds up my workflow and allows me to work faster and have more control over the composition of the illustrations. I often need elements in certain areas for layout and design purposes.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Creates images from text prompts
Allows for multiple revisions of initial image
Can create many variations on a theme for concept development very quickly

Cons

As with most AI art generation tools, a lot of the time, text information is a challenge
Adobe could make it easier to have Firefly be able to make smaller edits and tweaks to an image without completely recreating the image. This IS technically possible, but it would be great if they could make it more intuitive and less dependent on prompt engineering.
Firefly could be more adaptable to different dimensions of images that it creates.

Return on Investment

Firefly has had a positive impact on my work time, so my profitability has improved.
By speeding up image generation, my time is now more valuable and can be spent refining my designs.
Firefly was included in my CC subscription, so it didn't really cost me anything more upfront, which makes any impact a good one on my bottom line.

Usability

As I mentioned earlier, I have found it to be a handy additional to the Adobe suite. And the fact that it is incorporated into other Adobe products makes it that much more convenient. It is easy to get started and get some pretty quality usable images without too much prompt crafting, but it is also powerful enough to handle more complex prompts and directions.

Alternatives Considered

ChatGPT and kittl

While ChatGPT is sort of the leader, in my opinion, Firefly is more accessible and seems a little for user friendly. Particularly if you are at all familiar with any other Adobe design products. I have only used a trial version of kittl so I am not all that familiar with it's more advanced capabilities and have only tried the AI tools a little.

Key Insights

Do you think Adobe Firefly delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Adobe Firefly's feature set?

Yes

Did Adobe Firefly live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Adobe Firefly go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Adobe Firefly again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe Illustrator CC, Adobe InDesign

Likelihood to Recommend

The Firefly AI engine is incorporated into other Adobe products so it makes adding its capabilities into other work flows pretty handy. For instance, you can do some editing inside Photoshop using the Firefly tools to help speed image editing, etc. This can be useful, but I can also foresee a time when that may become too much of a crutch and the end image will suffer.

Using Adobe Firefly

Users and Roles

1 - I use Adobe Firefly and other AI Art generation tools in my role as a graphic designer. I use it for concept development as well as for final art creation. It helps me brainstorm ideas and formats for images and also saves me time in the actual art creation process.

Support Headcount Required

1 - In my small organization, I am not only the graphic designer, I am the tech support person, the printer maintenance person and the purchasing department and the creative director and the owner of the company, as well as my duties as janitor. So, in order to support Firefly, I need to keep up on the latest technology and make sure that it meets my needs.

Business Processes Supported

Brainstorming concepts
Rough draft creation
Final Art generation
Image creation that might be problematic to photograph

Innovative Uses

Generation of full presentation materials (slides, handouts, etc.)
Logo concept development
Poster design image creation

Future Planned Uses

AI generated photo imagery for tourism materials
Short video presentations
Animation

Likelihood to Renew

Adobe Firefly is a very useful tool. It is compatible with my other graphic design tools in the Adobe Suite. It performs well and I have an understanding of many of its capabilities. Due to those factors alone, I find that I am able to incorporate it into my workflow pretty seamlessly.

Evaluating Adobe Firefly and Competitors

Products Replaced

Yes - I have used ChatGPT quite extensively and have had varying degrees of success for my needs. The predictability of the art generated is spotty at best, so I found that I need to spend a lot of time reworking my prompts to get a workable result. I have also tried Kittl, but only with the free version, which is limited.

Key Differentiators

Integration with Other Systems
Ease of Use

Ease of use is paramount to me. Can I get it to do what I need it to do without a huge learning curve? Can I depend on the results? Is it intuitive? The answer to all of these is YES! Adobe Firefly is all of those things. And to make it more appealing, it in integrated with the rest of the Adobe Suite.

Evaluation Lessons Learned

I don't really know how to answer this question. I feel like I did a pretty good analysis of my needs and put the tested products through testing and trail and error in order to come to my product selection decision. Did it work? No? Okay, move on. Did the next one work? Yes? Okay. Let's get back to work.

Adobe Firefly Implementation

Implementation Rating

As I have noted in previous answers, the integration of Adobe Firefly is already done for you. It is part of the Adobe Suite and works seamlessly with all other Adobe products. If you don't happen to use Adobe products, it works just like any other AI image creation tool in that you can save and download your creations to edit in whatever software tools you prefer.

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Implemented in-house

None

Adobe Firefly Support

Support Rating

I have never contacted Support for Adobe Firefly.

Adobe Firefly Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
None	None

Using Adobe Firefly

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar	None

Easy Tasks

Generating a reasonably useable image from general prompts
Quick short video creation is cool
Prompt engineering can be done in real human language without being too techy.

Difficult Tasks

From time to time, I find it challenging to edit a prompt to revise an image, but that is minor.

Comments

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