Will Adobe’s Firefly and AI kill the Graphic Designer?

Will Adobe’s Firefly and AI kill  the Graphic Designer?

Adapted from the Works of LGC's Johnny Stack

Open your browser window and it seems like a new-aged Wild West of Graphics is out there, a frontier of Artistic lawlessness, an open landscape of Design evolving before our eyes. There is both potential and fear growing like wildfire across the futuristic plain of technology.

Created in Midjourney by Johnny Stack

Will the graphic designer become obsolete? LGC’s intrepid creative director doesn’t think so. In fact, Johnny Stack welcomes the bold new world of creativity.

Here’s what he has to say:

¹ Copyright Adobe Systems Incorporated

March 2023, Adobe Systems Incorporated, a titan in the creative software space, debuted Adobe Firefly—a massive update to the platform that included, for the first time, AI integration. This was the graphic design giant, throwing down its AI gauntlet and shaking up the world of creative design. Adobe was not going to lag as the advent of this new design era erupted.

Since Firefly entered its beta stage, content generators have been foaming at the mouth over the potential it would bring to the graphic design market – ease and speed in content creation like never before. The breakthrough of the Firefly update, offered in Adobe’s cornerstone software, including Photoshop, Illustrator and Adobe Express, is a “Text to Image” prompt-based creator like DALLE, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and other popular image creating AI applications now fascinating the market. Doubling down with the confidence only a gladiator in its field could, Adobe announced that it would cover any legal fees encountered by a company sued for an image created while utilizing their platform. This would not only have a big effect on the platform, but also on the stock image industry. Companies like Getty, Shutterstock, and others will need to follow Adobe’s lead not only in AI Creation but in the copyright coverage arena to remain competitive.

The Power of a Giant
How is Adobe able to offer such a guarantee?

Created in Midjourney by Johnny Stack

Adobe’s “Text to Image” feature stays within Adobe’s legal library. Prompts only pull image information from Adobe Stock during the creation process, assuring content creators that images are 100% copyright protected. This feature is not available on other AI image platforms. Midjourney and DALL·E have suffered criticism, and even lawsuits from artists. Evidence has shown artist’s names and artwork being referenced in millions of prompts used for content creation within these applications, including artist styles that they personally claim as their own. A number of legal proceedings have begun as well as class action lawsuits.² Adobe’s AI creator helps artists, particularly commercial artists, fearlessly design in this new world.

Johnny’s Adobe OMG! Pick 

The “Generate Fill Tool” is like a “generate a world tool” in the hands of an imaginative creator. Inside Photoshop the “Generate Fill Tool” allows the user to select parts of an image and seamlessly add, subtract, or expand in a matter of seconds – even create from a blank canvas. After selecting an image, the tool appears and allows you to type what action or creation you want the program to perform. This tool has set the social media world on fire #generatefill, evidenced in posts all over the internet displaying the excitement and proclaiming the ease of creation.

“Add a Sunny Background”

image004

Created in Firefly Adobe Beta by Johnny Stack

“Change to a Leather Jacket”

image005-2

Created in Firefly Adobe Beta by Johnny Stack

“Extend this Image” 

image006

Created in Firefly Adobe Beta by Johnny Stack Where Adobe Struggles

Currently, Adobe shines with simple photography, photo expansion, and its amazing potential for speed; but it is, by no means, ready to replace the human imagination. Firefly struggles with the blank canvas (don’t we all). And a blank canvas with only a text prompt will often result in muddied or undesirable images. Adobe also has trouble with human creation (go figure), particularly hands, faces, and feet.

image007

Created in Firefly Adobe Beta by Johnny Stack

Creative illustration, surreal application, and artists style prompts are limited to what is available in the Adobe Stock library. Results in these areas are often less than desirable. MidJourney is still the top dog in AI image creation when it comes to creative styles, despite questionable ethics. MidJourney is our team’s pick for inspiration, its current ethics aren’t recommended for commercial use. We also found marketing icons, fine art painting, vector art, and spelling areas where Firefly fell completely flat, but still, it is an exciting new medium that is learning and growing.

Marketing Icons

image008-2

Fine Art Painting

image009-2

Vector Art

image010

Created in Firefly Adobe Beta by Johnny Stack

Should Graphic Artists Be Worried?

“As a veteran of the profession, I am excited,” says Creative Director, Johnny Stack. “This is a new area to explore, an amazing time to be an artist, and a new set of tools to light up our imagination.”

image011

Created in Midjourney by Johnny Stack

As the virtual universe continues to expand, with new content, media, and technology growing in so many directions, Lorraine Gregory Communications has been exploring and experimenting.  AI for graphics, text, audio, video, SEO, code, and graphics, ignite our imagination, accelerate our speed, and enhance the growth of our offering.