Design A Slick Reflective Header

For everyone into reflective, glossy, and shiny websites, this tutorial is for you. I will show you how to create a neat table-like header that is shiny, sleek, and of course, reflective. Let me know what you think!

Difficulty
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Estimated Time
6-10 Minutes

Tools/Techniques Learned
Layer Styles
Shapes
Layer Masks
Opacity and Gradients

---

Alright lets start with a 500×250 document.

---

---

Using the shape tool, draw a rectangle across the canvas. Fill it in with any color you would like. Rasterize this shape and then using the perspective transform (Cmd+T > Right Click > Perspective) drag in the top corners to get the below image:

---

---

Next, lets add a layer mask. In the layers palette, click the icon at the bottom that has a white circle inside of a gray square. Then, with your gradient tool and your colors set to black and white, drag your gradient from the top of the box to somewhere in the middle.

---

---

Then add the following layer styles.

---

---

---

This next step has a few parts. First, take this “table” layer, and with the “move” tool selected (V), hit Alt+Down. This will duplicate this table on a new layer and move it one pixel down. Repeat this step 7 times.On each duplicated table except the original, remove the drop shadow.

---

---

On the top table layer, add the following bevel:

---

---

The next step we will make is to add in our text. I used Myriad Pro – a standard Mac font. I’m not sure if this font is available on Windows, so if not, choose a font that you like.

---

---

Add the following gradient overlay:

---

---

Make a selection on top of your text like so:

---

---

Press Cmd+Option+Shift and click on your text layer thumbnail. This will automatically cut the selection so that only the text remains inside the crawling ants.

---

---

With the gradient tool, select a white to transparent gradient. Drag the gradient from the bottom of the text to the top. Your result should look like this:

---

---

Lower the opacity of this gradient to 33%.

---

---

Next, lets duplicate the text layer. Go Edit>Transform>Flip Vertical. Go ahead and align this flipped text up with your original text. Add a layer mask to the flipped text. With a black to white gradient, drag from the middle of the text to the top. Lower the opacity of this text to your desired level. Mine looks like this:

---

---

For this next step, open up a picture of your personal logo or icon and place it behind your text. I chose a nifty ‘e’ I created a while back.

---

---

This step has the same process that you used to make your reflective text.
Duplicate your icon, flip it vertically. Add a layer mask and with a black to white gradient drag from the middle of the icon to the top. Lower the opacity to your taste.

---

---

For this next step, select black as your foreground color. Using the ellipse tool, draw a very thin ellipse at the base of your icon. This will be the shadow.

---

---

Next, go to Filters>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Set this to your own desired level. Mine was set at 2.1 pixels. Lower the opacity to around 70%.

---

---

I wanted to add an RSS icon to this header, so I opened up this glossy RSS icon.

---

---

Use the same techniques that we used on the logo to create the reflective effect.

---

---

Duplicate your logo’s shadow and position it underneath the RSS icon.

---

---

We are now going to put in some text. This text is the exact same as the other, so use the same gradient overlay, font, etc. For mine, I lowered the font size.

---

---

Go ahead and reflect this text using the same techniques as before:

---

---

And then add your gloss.

---

---

Next, lets create our navigation tabs that are going to come out from underneath the table.
Using the shape tool, create this rounded rectangle. My radius was 7 pixels.

---

---

Add the following layer styles:

---

---

---

Cmd+Click on the thumbnail for this tab layer in your layers palette. This will select the tab. Then, using the gradient tool and a black to transparent gradient, drag from the top of the tab to somewhere around the middle. Lower the opacity to your preference.

---

---

Duplicate the tabs and shadows and spread them out underneath your table. Mine looks like this – almost done!

---

---

Last step – add in some text. I used Myriad Pro again and used some medium gray colors. Here is what my finished product looks like:

---

---

If you followed each step correctly, you should have a finished product looking something like the image above. If you are confused on any of the steps or techniques, please let me know!

For more Photoshop tutorials check out the new tutorial site, The Tutorialist.