Build Beautiful Buttons in Photoshop, Part I

Rounded, Matte-finish Metallic Button

Creating a rounded matte-finish button is pretty much the same as creating a rectangular one. The main difference is that we're going to use a stroke layer effect to add the borders, since it's going to be difficult for us to draw the borders accurately by hand.

1. Create a rounded gradient button. I used the same shades of gray I used for the rectangular button in the previous solution.

   

2. Now, instead of drawing a border as we did for the rectangular button, open the Layer Style dialog for Stroke and give your border the settings shown here:
   • Size: 1px
   • Position: Inside
   • Opacity: 75%

   

3. Change the Fill Type to Gradient. Click on the Gradient swatch and set the gradient colors to white (#ffffff) and a darker gray (#384046). As the opacity of the stroke is lowered, you'll want more contrast between the light and dark colors. (If you're wondering why you need to lower the opacity, it's so that the noise and lighting effects will show through.)


4. Adjust the Angle so that most of the gradient stroke is at a slight angle in relation to the button.


5. Click OK to apply the stroke effect. The figure shows the result of our stroke.

   

6. Now, add noise and apply a lighting effect (steps 4-8 in the "Rectangular, Matte-finish Metallic Button" solution), and your rounded button is complete!

   

Making a Shiny Metallic Button

Here, I'm going to show you how to create shiny, metallic buttons like the ones shown here. I'll also show you how you can vary their appearance using different settings.

Solution

1. Create a raster or vector button. I've created both a rounded and a rectangular button in this example. The color of the button is unimportant, as it won't affect the final result.

   

2. The fun begins! Open the Layer Style dialog by clicking on the Add a layer style button at the bottom of the Layers palette and selecting Outer Glow from the menu that appears. In the dialog, change the Blend Mode to Normal, and click on the color swatch (light yellow by default) and change it to gray, as shown here.

   

3. Now, select Stroke from the styles list in the dialog to add a stroke layer effect. I used a dark gray 1px stroke.

   

4. We're ready to add the gradient overlay (there go those gradients again!). Select Gradient Overlay from the Styles list in the dialog, and double-click on the gradient color swatch to open the Gradient Editor dialog. Set the colors of the gradient as I've done.


5. Add more color patches to the gradient bar by clicking anywhere along the bottom of it. Edit the color of a patch by double-clicking on it to bring up the Color Picker. You can also click and slide color patches to adjust the appearance of your gradient.

   

6. Click OK to apply all the layer styles. Your shiny, metallic button is complete! Turn off the Stroke style for a more subtle effect (uncheck its checkbox to do so) -- I did this for the left button in the examples shown here.

   

Variations

You can vary the appearance of your shiny button by playing with the gradient editor settings. The examples below show how the look of our shiny button changed when different gradient configurations were applied.

Summary

And with this cliffhanger, I'll leave you for the time being to keep playing with the navigation button solutions I've shown you. Watch this space! Further secrets of beautiful button creation will be revealed in Part II, to be published in this column in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, don't forget to check out the free PDF download, courtesy of 99designs.com.