Adobe Firefly + InDesign: How AI Accelerates Catalog Design

Adobe Firefly and InDesign unlocks a new way to design product catalogs – specifically when it comes to product photography.

Follow along this step-by-step tutorial, and learn how to use a reference image to generate new product compositions using AI and seamlessly integrate them into a dynamic, interactive InDesign layout.

Perfect for designers, marketers, and anyone building product catalogs.

Click the link below to download the tutorial assets and follow along step-by-step.

Tutorial Exercise Files.zip

Download ZIP • 6.98MB

• The first step is going to firefly.adobe.com and launching the text to image module. For this tutorial, we'll be using the Adobe partner model Gemini 2.5 (Nano Banana), which is perfect when describing what you'd like to add, remove or change in an image.

• Set the Aspect Ratio to Square (1:1).

• Drag and drop the reference image from Adobe Stock into the upload area. This will allow Nano Banana to recognize the style of the shoe.

• Type or copy and paste the first prompt in the text file included in the lesson files. It is "Change the position view to a side profile. The back sole of the shoe is completely flat to the ground. View is directly from the side."

• Click Generate.

Now that you have the first result, let's create another one.

• Click on the generated image and added the second prompt, which is Change the position to a side profile of the opposite side of the shoe.

• Click Generate again to see the second result.

• Create one more version by adding the third and final prompt, "Create a top-down position view of the shoe."

• Click Generate to see the final result.

Now that you have three additional product images, you can jump over to InDesign where we'll add them to an interactive catalog layout.

Here is a look at the images that will be included in this example. Your results will be different.

In InDesign, open the Object States panel by going to Window > Interactive > Object States. You can also open the Buttons and Forms panel since we'll be setting up an interactive product image slide at the top of the mobile catalog layout.

You can use the images already placed on the page, or if you like, place the results you generated from Firefly.

Interactive Image Slide

In the Layers panel, you'll notice all four images placed on a layer called Shoes.

• Select all four of the image placed on the page and in the Object States panel, convert the selection to a Multi-state Object.

• Rename the Object Shoe Collection. You can rename the States, but it's optional in this tutorial.

Here is a look at the settings for the Multi-state Object. You can see from the image below that all four images have been converted into separate states that we can assign button actions to.

Open the Buttons and Forms panel and we'll focus our attention on the two chevron arrow icons – which will become the Next Button and Previous Buttons.

Buttons and Forms

• Click the Next Button arrow icon and in the Buttons and Forms panel, convert the object to a Button.

• Name this button Next Btn.

• Click the + icon to add an Action. From the options, choose Go to Next State.

• Click the Previous Button arrow icon and in the Buttons and Forms panel, convert the object to a Button.

• Name this button Previous Btn.

• Click the + icon to add an Action. From the options, choose Go to Previous State.

Here is a visual look at the button setup, as explained in the steps above.

You've just set up a simple interactive product image slide within this digital catalog. To preview the button interactivity, click the play icon in the bottom left corner of the Button and Forms panel to launch the EPub Preview Window.

Test out the next and previous buttons. It will look like this.

Just like that, we used partner model Gemini built into Adobe Firefly to create product images and used that content inside of an interactive layout in InDesign.