In this tutorial, I want to take a look at a pretty traditional design element – the button. 

The image above is a typical glossy button that you’ll find on many sites. Nothing especially difficult about it. I want to take a look at a common design file for this button.

The screenshot above is a common file structure that I have seen many designers use. As you can see the layers are separated out for each design feature of the button. In this case, the button contains the following 5 layers:

1. Base – The base button shape
2. Gradient
3. Gloss
4. Text
5. Highlight

There’s nothing wrong with this really as long as the layers are named appropriately. If you’ve worked with some designers though, you know that isn’t always the case. If you’ve worked with Project Managers, you know that change requests are inevitable. If you needed to change the colors of this button for example, you would pretty much have to start over.

So, let’s a take a look at how to create a more flexible version of this button using Layer Styles.

Step 1

Create a new layer group by clicking the ‘Group’ icon in the Layers Palette and name it ‘Layer Style Love Button’. That name is a must or this whole thing won’t work.

Step 2

Create a new rounded rectangle shape using the Rounded Rectangle tool from the toolbar. If you want to re-create the same shiny orange button I created, you can use this color – #cc6600 and the size should be 300px wide by 50px high. It’s important to use the shape tool so that your button can scale.

You should have something that looks like this:

Step 3

Let’s add a gradient now. On your layers pallette, click the small “fx” icon to add a layer style to the button base. From the dropdown menu that opens up, click “Gradient Overlay” and you should see a window with a gradient settings option like this:

Yours may not have the same color gradient as mine but that’s ok. That’s what we’ll set now. Click the gradient to open the Gradient Editor. Then set your gradient like so, using these colors: #cc6600 (dark) and #fea004 (light).

Click ok to apply the style. Your button should now look like this:

Step 4

Now let’s add a stroke to make your button pop a little bit. If you’ve closed your layer style window, click the small “fx” icon again and select “Stroke”. This will open the stroke settings dialog. In this dialog, set your stroke settings the way I have mine set here:

When you set the gradient colors, use the following: #993300 (dark) and #cd6701(light).

Click ok to apply the style. Your button should now look like this:

Step 5

Now we want some gloss on this thing. We’re going to use the “Inner Shadow” layer style for this. Click on the “fx” icon and select “Inner Shadow” or if you have the dialog open still, click on “Inner Shadow” in the left hand menu. When the settings dialog is ready, set your inner shadow settings the same that I have below.

For the color, use #f9cb2c. It’s important to set the blend mode to “Lighter Color” and set the opacity to something low like 25%.

To adjust the size of the gloss, you can slide the “Distance” slider up or down. Click ok to apply the style. Your button should now look something like this:

Step 6

Let’s add a little something extra. In the fx dialog, click on “Inner Glow” and set the settings to what I have below. For the color use #ffffbe and make sure the blend mode is set to “Soft Light”.

Click ok to apply the style. Your button should now look like this:

Step 7

It’s time for the obligatory drop shadow. Select “Drop Shadow” in the fx dialog and set your drop shadow to what I have here:

Your button should now look something like this:

Step 8

Now all we need to do is add some text. Create a new layer above your button base layer. Select your favorite font and type “Layer Style Love” over your button using #ffffff as the color.

If you really want to follow along and re-create this button, I used a font called “Aller” which you can download here – http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/Aller

After you’ve typed your text, let’s add a drop shadow to it. Click the “fx” icon for your text layer and select “Drop Shadow”. Use the settings that I use below. For the color of the shadow, I used #844302.

Click ok to apply the style and your button should look something like this:

It just looks so clickable.

The biggest benefit to using layer styles is that they are easy to customize without much work. If you want the gloss to extend down further or sit higher, then you can slide the distance setting in the Inner Shadow. If you don’t want the inner outline, turn off the Inner Glow.

You can also right click the button base layer, Copy Layer Style and apply it to another element in your design, which is a great way to create a consistent UI theme. I tested it on my logo and got this result:

So that’s it. Use layer styles to cut down your design file layer structure and create a library of styles that you like and use often.