Dramatic Badge in Photoshop

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In this tutorial we’re going to learn how to create a “badge” in Photoshop. Using simple techniques, like layer styles for example, we can enhance a symbol for example. Let’s give it a try.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and choose the basic settings for your document.

Before we start working, drag the horizontal and vertical guides to the center of your document.

Set the Foreground color to #d5d4d5 and the background color to #888888. Select the Gradient tool, make the gradient in the document from top to bottom.

Step 2

Select the Ellipse tool and, pressing Shift and Alt keys at the center of the document, draw a circle. The choice of the color is not important since we’re going to change it in layer styles.

Duplicate the layer and hide the new one. Selecting the first circle layer open up the Layer Styles panel. Apply the following Outer Glow style.

Step 3

Select the duplicated circle layer, turn the visibility on, and apply the following Layer Styles.

Your image should look like this at the time.

Step 4

Create a new layer, name it “border”, select the Elliptical Marquee tool and, again, from the center of the document, draw a circle a little bigger than the other ones we’ve done before.

Then, select the Subtract from Selection option, and start dragging the mouse from the center of the document. Before releasing the mouse, press Alt and Shift keys, and continue to drag until the result looks like the one shown in the picture.

Grab the Paint Bucket tool and paint the selected area with any color.

Step 5

Now, apply the following layer styles to the “border” layer.

Step 6

Now, let’s add some text to make it a little more dramatic. Grab the Text tool and choose the Times New Roman font with a size about 70 points. Type your text on top of our circle.

Then add some Layer Styles.

Final Image

Here is how your final should look. Of course you can add more elements and details to make it more realistic and dramatic. You can also play with the layer style values to achieve better results who knows. Use your creativity and show us your version.

My version