Creating your own badges has never been easier. These badges are vector based, which means that you can scale them to whatever size you need without loosing any quality, and maintain a very crisp graphic with clear edges.
Step 1
Start by creating a new document in Photoshop, 500×500, White Background.
Grab the Pen Tool (P) and choose the Ellipse Tool.
Select a good color that will show both shadows and highlights, I picked red. Now start creating an ellipse while holding down Shift, this will make the shape circular. This will be the base for the badge, but don’t worry about the size of the circle, since it’s vector based you will be able to scale it later on if you need to.
Step 2
This step will be all about applying effects to the Layer Style. To access the layer styles window, either double click on the layer in the Layer Palette or Go to Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options…
Drop Shadow:
Inner Shadow:
Outer Glow:
Inner Glow:
Gradient Overlay:
Okay, now we’ve styled the base layer. Given it the rounded feel, added shadows and a little highlight in the middle. You should end up with something like this:
Step 3
This step will help you create two subtle highlights, one on the top and one on the bottom. Duplicate the previous layer, the one with the circle in it; Layer > Duplicate Layer… You want to resize this new layer to 90% the size of it’s current size (Edit > Transform > Resize) Once again it’s a Layer Style only step:
Uncheck all the styles except for Gradient Overlay, which should get the following settings:
Gradient Overlay:
Click on the Gradient to bring up a new window. Here you will need to slide the top right arrow towards the middle, this will narrow down the gradient. On the left I used White (#FFFFFF) at 100% Opacity
Change the Fill to 0% (located just below the Layer Opacity in the Layer Palette). This will make the color of the shape disappear but leaving the layer styles untouched. You might want to lower the Opacity as well, I have mine at 30% for this layer.
This should give your badge a look like this:
Step 4
Now we are going to create the main highlight.
Select the Pen Tool again and use the Ellipse Tool to make an actual ellipse this time.
Now we’re going to position this shape where we want the light to come from. Select the Move Tool (V) and check the Show Transform Controls checkbox in the top bar menu. While holding down Shift rotate the layer (place your pointer around the corners of the layer and start dragging). Rotate it to a 45-degree angle and place it where you want the highlight.
As you can see there’s a bit of space between the old highlight and the ellipse. To fill this space simply select the Pen Tool (P), and while holding down Ctrl, click inside the ellipse. This will show you the four points of the shape and what you want to do is to drag the one shown in the next image:
Now we’re going to change this black shape into a highlight with the help of, you guessed it, Layer Style.
Only Gradient Overlay this time as well:
You might need to drag the gradient around on the image until you get that perfect fit.
Change the Fill to 0% and the Opacity to around 60% for this layer.
Step 5
The badge is more or less finished now, just select your base layer and change the Fill to 0%.
To show you what your badge should look like at this stage I’ve changed my background to blue, since the highlights won’t show on a white background:
Step 6
The only thing that is left now is the actual content on the badge. If you have a picture you would like to use for your badge simply drag it into your image and place it below the base layer. After lining it up so that it fills the circle just like you want it, you simply Ctrl-click the vector mask of the base layer. This will give you a selecting of the circle (badge) and all you have to do now is, while you’re in your picture layer, click on the Add Layer Mask icon. This will hide everything outside the badge.
Remember that the badge itself is vector based so you can resize it all you want, but the content you have inside the badge might not be vector so resize the badge before you add content.
Good Luck!
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This was a pretty sweet tutorial. I think I may have missed something at the end of step 3, because I didn’t get the photo you have. After setting the opacity to 30%, I transformed the shape to 90% width and height to get what you got.
Also, at the end I created another layer between background, pressed ctrl and clicked on the shape of the base layer, filled the new layer with a color. After that, I created a new layer above my fill layer, copied my button image onto that layer, and then created a clipping mask (hold alt, move your mouse cursor between your fill layer and button-image layer - click between the layers after the clipping mask icon appears).
This will allow you to move your image around to get it in the perfect position after you create the mask.
Awesome tutorial Fredrik!
You can also just fill the image layer with a mask the size of the button.
Hey Stacy, you’re right. I forgot the step of reducing the size of the first highlight layer to 90%. I will add this to the tutorial.
The way you handle the badge content is a great alternative to my method. I wanted to show an easy and fast way to add the content, but your way is obviously more flexible.
Thanks,
Fredrik aka Molnies
Nice tutorial Fredrik!
And nice explanation on how you worked with images on the buttons Stacy. That’s certainly an easy way to handle positioning.
Great tut! Can i just ask which photoshop you used for this tutorial? I have CS2 currently but this one looks a bit different.
@Peotto
Thanks!
I use Photoshop CS3, on a Mac.
Why dont u make some more harder tutorials, greycobra had some cool stuff
@NBT - Our authors are working hard to publish tutorials for all levels of designers for our big launch coming soon
On step 4 i can’t seem to move the elipse with the pen tool (im using cs2 if this makes any difference)i can’t draw an elipse with the pen tool i can only do it with the elpise tool if that makes any sense.
Best button tutorial I’ve seen, thanks.
Thanks for the tutorial. it´s always nice to find useful stuff like this!!!
Regards from Mexico.
Great tutorial - can’t wait to give it a shot!
I think I may make some to add to my site of free graphics!
Nice tutorial.
Great tut! Can i just ask which photoshop you used for this tutorial? I have CS2 currently but this one looks a bit different.
Brilliant tutorial. Thanks, will certainly come in handy.
My only nitpick is that this isn’t really “vector” based. You’re still inside of Photoshop and not Illustrator, where going to print would make vector sizing essential. What you will find when resizing these to varying sizes is that the integrity of the bubble effect will change. This happens when you have open layer effects on layers and then resize them. For example, a 20 pixel outer glow might work for a 300 pixel radius circle, but when you reduce it to 100 pixels in size, the outer glow will be noticeably too big. You can “apply layer style” to the layer to change this. THe adding of a layer mask does not imply any vector attributes. Sorry, I just feel that the word “vector” is thrown around too much and is misused. Vector implies a specific format mainly utilized by Illustrator that maintains resolution and scale at any size.
@ Blueline Design
You’re right, the layer effects such as the glows will have to be changed depending on size. But that’s quite easy to do, a very simple fix if you need to change the size (you will also need to use a higher resolution for the “content” of the badge, so the layer effects are the easiest thing to modify after a size change).
However, I must also reply to your comment about vector only being a product of Illustrator — this is simply not true. The Pen Tool (in all it’s forms) are vector graphics, even in Photoshop. If I make an art piece with the Pen Tool in Photoshop and then open it in Illustrator I will have the all layers and shapes intact and will look just as sharp no matter how much I zoom/resize the image. I agree that the word “vector” is being misused way too often, but so is the myth that Photoshop can’t produce true vector graphics.
Very Nice and practical Tut Dude!
Regards
Good tutorial, it tutorial was chosen for the main page of http://www.tutorialsroom.com and under Photoshop tutorials. Please feel free to submit more of your good tutorials using this link: http://www.tutorialsroom.com/tutorials/submit_tutorials.html
Keep on the good work
Got a little prob…
When I make the circle with pen tool selected by using elipse tool, I can’t add effects unless I fill the path. So…it can get the effects, but then if I scale it, it doesn’t stay nice, get’s pixelated..
Secondly, when I add the layer mask to the badge, I can’t drag the image inside, no matter what I do, and I tried making a clippin mask, but then the image looks to bright, as though the white has been doubled. A little help!
Other than that, a great tut. Well done, can’t wait for the The School fo Photoshop! 9th Grade…
Great lesson! Really enjoyable!
I wish you keep on going successfully with this website.
The only trouble: my “add layer mask” is not hiding anything outside the badge… what am I supposed to do? Everything went ok with this one but the last step. Thanks!
oooops… sorry! trouble solved!!
I’m glad I was able to get it right by myself! But thanks once again. xx
Glad you figured out your problem Fay =) It’s always OK to ask questions here!
an easier way to get the image in the button is to (keep the opacity @100) turn the “Fill” down to 0%. Th=hen you can move your button around any image and see through it. Then drag the rest to your layer mask to erase it!
gorgeous
Very very nice tutorial