Mac Style Buttons

Learn how to design the trendy futuristic looking buttons as seen on Mac's!  These buttons are great for website layouts, and many other kinds of graphics.

1. Create a new document (150x50 pixels) with a white background:

2. Select the rounded rectangle tool from your main tool bar:

3. Drag out a small pill shape as shown below:

4. The color of the shape does not matter right now, but if it turns out white, you can change it by clicking the color next to the layer with the shape, and changing it to your desired color.  Right click this layer and click rasterize.  Now, apply the following blending modes to your shape layer:

Drop Shadow Settings

Inner Shadow Settings

Light Blue - #A3E7FF
Darker Blue - #0039B3

Gradient Overlay Settings

5. Click OK to apply the blending options.  Your document should now look like this:

6. Create a new layer above your shape layer.  Make a selection of your pill shape by holding ctrl and clicking on the shape layer.  This will make a selection identical to your pill shape:

7. Contract this selection by 1 pixel (Select > Modify > Contract > 1 px)

8. Your selection will shrink in size by 1 pixel.  Now, grab your Rectangular Marquee Tool from your main toolbar:

9. While holding alt, drag a selection a little more than midway up your pill shape.  This will subtract this space from your current selection.  Your new selection should look like this:

10. Fill this selection with white, and set the opacity down to about 60%:

11. Finished!  Continue to play around until you find the style your looking for!

Good Luck!