Photoshop

Whether you’re designing an application interface, a skin for your favorite audio/video player software, or a slick website layout, you’ll find that the techniques outlined in this tutorial will be useful in these and many other instances. The example in this tutorial is a single part of what would make up a complete interface—several similar parts combined together would add up to a great looking interface. The point of this tutorial is to introduce you to many of the elements of interface design that you have at your disposal, to give you tools and ideas which you can call upon while designing your own interface. Read more

In this tutorial you’ll learn to create the smooth clear plastic tab buttons first seen on Apple.com. Over the years plastic tabs like these have become incredibly popular—try using them in a horizontal top menu for your site, along with the sliding doors technique for a great usable menu system. Read more

This tutorial will show you how to create a glowing LCD Orb, great for interfaces and hi-tech designs. You’ll learn a cool airbrushing technique to create a glowing effect, as well as a way to design a great-looking highlight effect. Read more

This tip explains a method of creating some great looking smooth metal, for use in your interfaces, website layouts, skins, etc. The great thing though is that once you’ve followed this tutorial one time, you’ll have a cool Layer Style which you can instantly apply to other images in the future as well—a great time saver. Read more

The following is a technique every designer should have in their bag of tricks. This is a handy technique to know when making any sort of interface. These steps will enable you to make buttons look like they are inset into the surface of an object such as an interface, winamp skin, etc, and can add a great degree of depth to an otherwise flat and boring image. Read more

In this tutorial you’ll learn to create a great aqua plastic text effect using Photoshop layer styles. Read more

The following tutorial will guide you in creating a fairly realistic stone effect. Although the example in this tutorial is based around applying the effect to an interface, you can use the same technique to create text, or whatever you prefer. The techniques described here are adaptable; you can use these to create a whole variety of different textures and effects — simply change some of the settings and experiment. Read more

So you’ve seen those trendy “tentacle” designs in your favorite wallpapers and splash pages, but were disappointed to discover that the usual way to create them is with a 3D modeling program. Never fear though, with a bit of effort you can create a similar effect with just Photoshop… no 3D app necessary.

A slight drawback is that the final product of this technique never comes out quite the same—what you’ll end up with will be random, but will definitely look cool. Read more

Create some cool smooth chrome with soft blue highlights, great as a text effect or on all kinds of other… eh, chrome stuff. Read more

Create some shiny glossy buttons for your website’s menu system. This tutorial illustrates how to add a glossy finish to your buttons or other nifty shapes. Read more