The following tutorial teaches you how to create a flashy button similar to one I made recently for a client. While following the tutorial, don’t be afraid to add your own little twist to the mix – after all, a distinctive style could land you that job you’ve always wanted.
This tutorial was created in Adobe Photoshop. If you would like to go through the tutorial in another program such as Fireworks you will not be able to execute the Lighting Effects step since the filter is only in Photoshop. However there are 3rd party plug-ins that can be installed into Fireworks that execute Lighting Effects such as Digital Elements Aurora.
STEP 1.
CREATING THE BUTTON
First create a new file that is 300×300 pixels at 72 resolution in RGB color with a white background. Create a new layer named Button and draw guides at 150px horizontally and vertically. After changing the color of your background to black, create a circular selection with the elliptical marquee tool from the center point of your image by holding down alt and shift while dragging your cursor right out to 250px.
Fill the circle on your newly created layer with any color using the paint bucket tool. (I used R:35, G:138, B:236) It is very important to keep the selection used to create the circle for the next few steps. Go to the channels window by either clicking the tab next to layers or Window >Channels. In the channels window create a new channel by clicking the Create New Channel icon located beside the Delete icon and name it Button. With the selection still active set your foreground color to white and select the Brush Tool with a soft edged brush at 270px. Move your cursor to the center of the selection and click 11 times creating a channel of gradient circles.
Now while in channels with the same selection, apply a Filter >Blur >Gaussian Blur with a radius of 7.3px. Go back to the Layers Palette, like you did the channels before, and select the Button layer. With the selection around the circle apply a Filter >Render> Lighting Effects with the settings shown below.
Next add a Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur at 2px to the selection. For more of a depth illusion apply Layer> Layer Style> Bevel and Emboss with the settings shown below.
STEP 2.
CREATING THE RIM
Start off by creating a new layer named Rim. Create a new circular selection with the elliptical marquee tool starting from the center while holding down alt and shift but this time make the selection a little larger that the button. Fill your new selection with white and move the Rim layer below the Button layer in the Layers Palette. Create another circular selection a little smaller than the button. Now hit the delete key and you’ll be left with a white ring. Next, apply Layer >Layer Style> Bevel and Emboss to the rim with the settings shown below and bring it above the Button layer in the Layers Palette.
STEP 3.
ENGRAVING INTO THE BUTTON
With the type tool create a white capitalized letter of your choice and place it in the center of the button. By default the letter should be on the top layer. If by chance it isn’t, move it above all other layers in the Layers Palette. For the final touch apply Layers >Layer Styles > Inner Shadow with the settings shown below.
If all steps are executed correctly your final result should look like this:
The advertising business is all about getting people interested in a product. An appealing button could make the difference between grabbing a viewer’s attention and having a viewer skip over it. Displaying your creativity to companies in such a way is sure to land you a job in the field. I hope this tutorial has been useful and if you have any questions or comments email me here at jrice@https://murdok.org
Justin Rice is an murdok Graphic Designer and Staff Writer
