Why Designers Are Leaving Adobe Firefly for Gemini And Why They Might Come Back

Brindha Dhandapani
3 days ago
5 min read

The year 2025 has fundamentally reshaped the creative industry. AI-powered design tools have become standard in studios, agencies, and freelance workflows worldwide. Yet one shift stands out more than anything else: a noticeable migration of designers from Adobe Firefly to Google Gemini.

Firefly entered the scene promising brand-safe generative AI, seamless Adobe ecosystem integration, and high-quality image creation. But by 2024–2025, many designers began switching to Gemini, citing speed, flexibility, realism, and its growing library of multimodal capabilities.

However, here comes the twist experts say the story is far from over. While designers are leaving Firefly, several evolving trends suggest they might eventually return.

This blog breaks down the why, the how, and the what’s next of this designer migration, offering real-world insights for creative teams navigating the AI transition.

SECTION 1: Why Designers Started Leaving Adobe Firefly

1. Firefly’s Creativity Limitations Became More Noticeable

When Firefly launched, Adobe emphasized safety:

Commercial-use safe images
Trained only on Adobe Stock + licensed content
Predictable brand-compliant results

This was great for businesses, but a weakness for artists. Designers began to feel that the generative results were too clean, too safe, and sometimes too predictable. Firefly avoided all controversial styles, resulting in outputs that many felt were:

Lacking in bold creativity
Less experimental
Limited in realism or cinematic depth

Gemini, in contrast, offered more stylistic freedom, allowing designers to push boundaries without feeling restricted by safety filters.

2. Gemini’s Multimodal Capabilities Became a Game Changer

By early 2025, Gemini (especially Gemini 2.0) offered:

Text → Image generation
Image → Enhancement
Video → Editing suggestions
Mockup generation
Advanced typography assistance
Real-time design recommendations

It quickly became a creative assistant, not just a generator.

Firefly, meanwhile, was still primarily focused on:

Image generation
Text effects
Vector variations
Generative fill/expand

Powerful but not enough to compete with Gemini’s all-in-one creative engine.

3. Firefly Was Slower at Adopting AI Video Features

Gemini rolled out:

AI video generation
Scene recreation
Fast ~8-second clips with detailed motion
Audio matching

Firefly’s comparable video tools were limited. Designers working on social media, ads, reels, and motion graphics started shifting toward Gemini simply because it offered more speed and scope.

4. Cost + Cloud Processing Issues

Another pain point grew in 2024–2025:

Firefly Credits were consumed quickly
Rendering times increased during peak hours
Adobe’s subscription model forced users to pay more for additional credits

Gemini, being part of Google’s flexible pricing, often provided higher output levels at lower cost. Designers, especially freelancers, made the shift to save both time and money.

SECTION 2: What Gemini Offers That Designers Love

1. More Photorealistic Outputs

Gemini’s image quality improved drastically by mid-2025. Designers praised:

High contrast + cinematic lighting
Natural skin tones
Hyperreal detailing
Depth of field accuracy
Effective product visualization

This became a major advantage for product designers, ad creators, and e-commerce brands.

2. Faster Turnaround

Gemini can generate:

4 images
in around 2–5 seconds
at high resolution

Meanwhile, Firefly often takes longer depending on rendering loads.

This made Gemini especially appealing for fast-paced design departments and agencies juggling multiple deadlines.

3. More Flexible Prompting

Gemini understood:

Complex storyboard prompts
Multi-step instructions
Combined typography + layout prompts
Brand guideline references

Designers loved how natural and conversational it was. Firefly prompts, while improving, still leaned towards structured and limited instructions.

4. Cloud Collaboration + Workspace Integration

Google’s ecosystem gave Gemini a huge advantage:

Drive
Docs
Sheets
Slides
Gmail
YouTube Studio
Android phones

All integrated with AI.

Designers could brainstorm, generate, edit, annotate, and present all inside a space their team already used daily.

SECTION 3: But… Why Designers Might Come Back to Firefly

Despite the shift toward Gemini, experts believe many designers will return to Adobe Firefly for three major reasons.

1. Firefly Still Offers the Best Integration With Creative Cloud

Firefly remains deeply integrated into:

Photoshop
Illustrator
InDesign
Premiere Pro
After Effects
Adobe XD
Lightroom

This is a massive advantage because design teams rely on these apps every single day.

Gemini can create assets, but Firefly lets designers create → edit → finalize → deliver in one ecosystem.

Adobe’s ecosystem is irreplaceable for:

Print designers
Motion designers
UX/UI teams
Branding agencies
Editorial designers

This alone may bring many users back.

2. Adobe Is Quietly Building Firefly 3.0, And It’s Looking Big

Insiders and beta testers have hinted at Firefly 3.0 improvements:

More creative freedom
More realistic image generation
Better prompt interpretation
New video and 3D capabilities
A more open training model

Adobe is also testing:

AI layout design
AI typography generation
AI brand kit creation
Advanced vector generation
Smart logo refinement tools

When these drop, Firefly could become the preferred tool for professional branding again.

Designers often return to the tools that fit their creative workflow best, and Adobe has decades of trust behind it.

3. Firefly’s Licensed, Safe-to-Use Dataset Still Matters for Brands

Gemini uses broad datasets. Adobe uses licensed + stock content. For commercial work, many companies prefer avoiding risk.

Designers may return when:

Clients demand legally clean outputs
Agencies require safe datasets
Large brands restrict external AI tools

Adobe’s focus on “ethical training” could become its biggest advantage in the long run.

SECTION 4: The Future Firefly + Gemini Coexisting in Designer Workflows

By late 2025, it’s becoming clear that the future won’t be “Firefly vs Gemini”.

Instead, designers will:

Use Gemini for idea generation, speed, script creation, video concepts, and brainstorming.
Use Firefly for final production, polishing, vector work, and client-safe deliverables.

This hybrid workflow is already emerging:

Task	Best Tool in 2025
Fast ideas	Gemini
Moodboards	Gemini
First draft product images	Gemini
Cinematic visuals	Gemini
Brand-safe commercial images	Firefly
Final logo/vector design	Firefly
Polishing for print	Firefly
Integration with Photoshop/Illustrator	Firefly

The smartest designers will use both, switching depending on project type.

SECTION 5: What This Means for Designers in 2025 and Beyond

The shift from Firefly to Gemini highlights a bigger truth:

Designers want AI that adapts to them, not the other way around.

In 2025, the winners will be the tools that offer:

Speed
Creative freedom
Accuracy
Legal safety
Integration with workflows

Firefly and Gemini both excel in different areas. The future will be shaped by whichever tool listens more closely to designers’ actual needs.

Final Thoughts: Adapt, Don’t Fear the Shift

The migration from Adobe Firefly to Gemini in 2025 reflects an evolving design ecosystem, one defined by speed, freedom, and innovation. But the story isn’t over. Tools like Firefly, with their deep integration and brand-safe promise, may still reclaim the spotlight as creative demands grow more complex.

As the AI landscape continues to evolve, the most successful designers will be those who stay adaptable, stay curious, and stay ahead of the tools, not dependent on them.

And if your business needs help navigating branding, generative AI workflows, or future-proofed creative strategies, Ragi Media can help bring clarity, creativity, and innovation to your brand's journey.