Glossy button

You can download the finished eps file here button.zip

Step 1

Open Illustrator and make a square document (mine is 400x400 pixels). Then draw a circle in the centre of the file roughly 300x300 pixels and fill it with a radial gradient. To produce the effect below pick a yellow colour in the left hand side of the gradient slider and a red colour in the right hand side, then click and drag (with the circle selected) your mouse from the top left to the bottom right (at 45 degree angle).

Step 2

Copy the circle but rather than pasting the object “paste in front”  (Object menu - Past in front) then with the selection tool (v) grab one of the corner nodes and reduce the circle slightly. Then select the circle with the selection tool (v) and hold down the “alt” key drag the circle down until it creates an overlapping half moon shape. Now you need to select both circles you have just created, do this by clicking on each while holding down the “shift key”. Now for the clever bit bring up the “Pathfinder” pallet (under the window menu) and press the “subject from shape area” and then the “expand” button...situated on the right hand side of the pallet. You should be left with the shape below, this might take a bit of experimenting to get the right effect but when you are happy you can adjust the gradient to give and effect of light reflection. I have done this by adjusting the start point of the lighter colour to the center and reduced the tint to about 50% of the original colour.

Step 3

Step 3 is the same as above but creating a thiner half moon shape and then adding a solid colour, I took the darker colour and added 10% black to create a shadow effect.

Step 4

Now for the finishing touch, the bevel. It couldn't be easier, choose the selection tool (v) and click on the original base circle, “copy” and “past in back”. Do not deselect the circle but grab a corner node and (holding down the shift button) drag it outwards to increase the size slightly. Change the colour to a silver circular gradient (R126, G126, B126 on the left and white on the right). To give a 3D effect “copy” and “past in back”. Do not deselect the circle but grab a corner node and (holding down the shift button) drag it outwards to increase the size slightly more than you did the last time, still with the circle selected hover the selection tool (v) over the corner node until it turns into a two headed arrow. Now click and drag the circle around 180 degrees, if you hold down the “shift button” as you drag it will rotate the circle 90 degrees at a time. You can relax now you are finished.

You can download the finished eps file here button.zip