Types Of The Glossy Web Icons

Glass icons can be viewed as an independent icon style though it is logical to assume that glass style is just one of the types of the shiny, glossy design.

The examples below - other types of the glossy web icons design can be marked out:

• glass icons;
• metal icons;
• glass-metal icons;
• transparent icons.

Glossy icons can be aqua, crystal, plastic etc. and at the same time transparent and half-transparent.

Moreover, there are partly glass and partly stained icons meaning the objects contain some glassy or stained elements.

Glass web icons as well as other kinds of icons are usually depicted with reflecting. It is one of the standard features of the "Web 2.0" icons. You may find various tutorials on the net instructing to make vertical reflection effect for web icons.

The pure look of glass icons makes navigating through the websites playful and attracts a lot of people. In the Internet sources you may find a huge selection of tutorials concerning the ways of creating such neat web icons.

Creation of glass web icons.

Adobe Photoshop is the number one software program for creating web icons. Photoshop is becoming more and more flexible and multitasking software for design. Originally it was rather an image editor and nowadays it allows to produce almost all visual effects used for the graphic design. A lot of the great web icons designs were made up of a help of this software. The main feature of the latest Photoshop versions is the ability to combine pixel painting with vector tool for creating glass icons, buttons, characters etc.<\p>

The easiest way to design Glass web icons is to make the "glass" layer overlap the image. With a help of the "eraser" tool you will be able to build an empty diagonal line through the image. You are supposed to proceed using eraser for making adjustments to the glass layer until the moment when the glass effect repeats the contour of the icon. As a result it should create a kind of the glass haze in the opposite sides. After this procedure complete the further adjustments should be applied.

Professional web designers should use this effect carefully and keep in mind that glass-fever may look ridiculous. Glass icons should be used with taste so that the site style could remain professional and reserved.