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How to make a folder icon

Author: Nico Harather More by this author

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a nice folder for your desktop or a website.

1. First of all create a new document which is 128 x 128 pixels large and has a transparent background.

2. Make a new layer, choose the Pen Tool and draw a shape wich is similar to this one:

image 1

3. Now use the following settings:

Gradient Overlay
#FFd27A -> #FFB912

Stroke
Size: 1px
Position: Outside
Color: #C07C33

Inner Glow
Blend Mode: Normal
Color: #FFFFFF
Choke: 100%
Size: 1px

After that it should look something like this:

4. Then you duplicate the layer with the shape. Now you have to perspectively distort the new layer as shown on the picture:

image 3

And now scale it down a little bit, so that it looks like an 3d opened folder:

image 4

The result of step 4:

image 5

5. In this step we're going to add a piece of paper. So make a new layer and draw a shape like the one on the picture:

image 6

6. Now go to the layers palette and use the following settings:

Gradient Overlay:
Opacity: 10%
#000000 -> #FFFFFF
Angle: 50°

Stroke
Size: 1px
Position: Outside
Color: #D6D6D6

It should now look similar to this one:

image 7

7. Next you turn the piece of paper to the left a little bit and put this layer under the layer with the 3D folder thing from step 4.

image 8

8. That looks quite nice, but the thing wich makes it look like a really cool icon, is to set the opacity of the 3D folder part to about 50-60%.

image 9

That's it. You can add some details and use it for a website or make an .ico file and use it for your desktop.

Thats what I came up with in the end:

image 10

Two other things wich I made with exactly the same folder parts:

image 11

How to Make a Folder Icon

I hope you liked my first tutorial, and I'm looking forward to make another one soon!

Have fun!



Author's URL: Nico Harather
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Reader's comments
comments Best Indian Web Hosting January 16, 2012 says:
This publish is really awesome. I always really like to create Inclusion to my understanding and this one really fulfil my need.
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comments Rohit October 29, 2011 says:
Awsome tutorial! Great work.. Keep it up.
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comments kasra August 29, 2011 says:
MOZILA
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comments kasra August 29, 2011 says:
MOZILA
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comments webindia July 12, 2011 says:
Excellent website, thank you so much keep producing such quality posts in the future as well. Good luck.
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comments webindia July 06, 2011 says:
Excellent. Thanks for sharing this information.
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comments mohamed March 21, 2011 says:
Step by step tutorial, this is great for all the times in the modules.. module-developer.com
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comments habeeb March 09, 2011 says:
Good one, thank you for this share to this post.
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comments David January 11, 2011 says:
Haha @ witherspoon
But this is an excellent tutorial, and for the first step, you can just copy that picture xD

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comments Sarah Jones December 17, 2010 says:
This is excellent. Creating folder icons have always been a big question. I believe, this is not going to be so anymore.
www.best-website-designer.com

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comments Best Website Designer November 04, 2010 says:
Great post. Thanks for sharing the information

www.best-website-designer.com

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comments llee440 September 03, 2010 says:
NICE... thank you
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comments DDDD August 28, 2010 says:
BAD
////////////////////////////////

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comments joy50 March 06, 2010 says:
great tutorial! but i have one question: how i save this as an icon for desktop
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comments nightwind9 January 16, 2008 says:
thank u
i have learn somerthing from the tutorial

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comments joel.witherspoon July 26, 2007 says:
Great tutorial! At the expense of being an ass, you may want to remove the folder tab on the duplicated layer. It doesn't make sense to have a folder with two tabs.
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comments LaLindsey July 14, 2007 says:
I just wanted to drop a note and thank you for the tutorial (saw it on digg) and say that's a really sweet looking icon!
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comments WebGyver July 14, 2007 says:
[b]That may have been very simple and straightforward, but I absolutely loved it.

Great tips. I especially liked the whole bit about making the outer folder pane somewhat transparent. Excellent!

Keep up the good work, and let me know when you have another tutorial posted.

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comments Kkropka June 18, 2007 says:
Very good, simple thing but useful thing :)
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