I've never had much success in fantasy football, but I thought that at least Joe's Juggernauts could start the new season with a decent logo design. You see, the English Premier League has named Adobe, the software giant behind Photoshop, as its 'Creativity Partner', and part of the initiative is an Fantasy Premier League logo generator.
Powered by Adobe's Firefly AI image model, the tool is being hyped as a first-of-its kind collaboration between the league and a sponsor. I gave it a go and... err. Well, judge for yourself... the best UK football logo it is not.
Obviously, like with any AI image generator, success requires having a good idea in the first place and then crafting a well-written prompt to describe it in a way the AI can interpret. I didn't have a great idea (I already told you my team's called Joe's Juggernauts), and I admit that I didn't have much patience with the prompting.
But here's the problem. The tool is just any AI image generator. With all the hype, I thought there was going to be a dedicated app or a special custom version of Firefly embedded in the Premier League's own website. But it appears to be merely the generic Adobe Express implementation of Firefly with a Premier League-themed landing page. It really feels just like a stunt to get football fans to sign up for Adobe Express, which will be why Adobe's throwing cash at the league.
You're prompted to try Adobe's logo generator as part of the process of creating a team on the Fantasy Premier League site. After you've picked your players, you'll be asked if you want to create a badge. If you accept, you'll be shown a bunch of templates. These seem indicative of how little effort has been made to customise the tool since they look nothing like the badge of any club in the Premier League.
If you click on a design, you'll be able to adapt it to your team and make edits such as removing the background. But to do that, you'll have to sign up for Adobe Express. After doing that, you end up in what appears to be the app's usual AI image generator. And since its a US company, it understands a 'football' as being something oval-shaped.
Unless you decide to design a logo for fantasy NFL team instead, you'll have to call it a soccer ball for a chance of at least getting the right sport. I couldn't bring myself to do that, so my Fantasy Premier League team's badge depicts a gorilla and an American football. Why not?
Once you're done, you click 'submit,' and your image will be sent to moderation to be approved (I'm guessing to check that you've not done anything offensive rather than to check the design is any good). If it's approve, it will appear on your team's profile on the Premier League site.
Kudos to Adobe's marketing time because this is great brand exposure for the brand, introducing its name and products to a whole new audience of non-creatives, but I'm afraid that even football badges drawn from memory look better than the results.
Good luck to your team if you have one. I don't think Joe's Juggernauts have much chance this year considering that they're playing with the wrong-shaped ball.
