About The Author Dirk Metzmacher is a professional Photoshop trainer and book author with over 10 years of experience. He is also the creative mind behind (Photoshop-Weblog), a … More about Dirk Metzmacher …

45 Apple-Inspired Photoshop Tutorials

Smashing Newsletter Every week, we send out useful front-end & UX techniques. Subscribe and get the Smart Interface Design Checklists PDF delivered to your inbox. Your (smashing) email Subscribe →

For years, Apple has had a huge impact on designers and graphic artists across the globe. The simplicity and sharpness of the Aqua interface in Mac OS X strongly influenced the way new products were being presented and designed.

It’s not only the design of products that makes Apple’s products different, it’s also their appearance on the Web and in print.

No other company has managed to come up with such a crisp and brilliant style of presenting its recent designs as a new breakthrough innovation that will change our lives for a long time. Apple has found an extremely effective way to deliver its message to a wide audience, and Apple’s look and feel has played a major role in shaping that way.

Further Reading on SmashingMag:

In this post, we present a collection of beautiful Apple-inspired Adobe Photoshop tutorials. We collected them not because we are religiously in love with Apple, but because you may find these tutorials useful; for instance, if you are developing a new Mac or iPhone application or designing a concept for a new product. In these cases, you may want to consider the article on A Designer’s Guide To Icon Design For Mac OS X. Please feel free to suggest further tutorials in the comments to this post.

Mac Photoshop Tutorials

Creating a Vector-Style MacBook from Scratch A long tutorial on making a MacBook Pro in Photoshop using shapes and different blending techniques.

Create a Slick Black iMac What would a black iMac look like? Being a Photoshopper, you can see for yourself.

Creating the Apple Mouse Simple and elegant: the Apple mouse. Create the mouse in Adobe Photoshop.

iPhone

Apple iPhone Mobile Phone Design Design the modern mobile phone using these easy-to-follow steps.

iPhone-Style Icon Tutorial Apple has posted some guidelines for making Web applications. Learn how to make an iPhone icon.

How to Create an iPod Touch The easiest way to create an iPod Touch.

iPhone Tutorial This tutorial describes in detail how to create the shapes, apply the effects, and make your own iPhone in Adobe Photoshop.

iPhone GUI PSD A Photoshop file that has a fairly comprehensive library of elements, all fully editable. More iPhone GUI source files at iPhone PSD Vector Kit (Photoshop).

Designing for the iPhone: Resources Here are some resources to get you going with your iPhone design project.

iCons and the Web

Create the Glass-Shelf Dock in Leopard OS In the new MAC OS X Leopard operating system, the application bar has a new sleek look. This tutorial shows you how to create the glass-shelf dock used in the OS.

Apple Leopard Text Effects The Apple operating system’s GUI for Leopard shows an “inset” effect for text, along with a new chrome finish for windows.

Design the iTunes Icon This tutorial shows you how to create the iTunes icon.

iTune Icon Use various blending modes and techniques to replicate the iTune icon.

Jaguar Style Folder In this tutorial, you will learn how to cover an object in a jaguar fur pattern.

iPod

iPod Shuffle from Scratch In this tutorial, you will learn how to create the Apple iPod Shuffle by using an original image as a reference.

Apple Remote In this tutorial, you will learn how to make a shiny Apple remote.

Realistic iPod Learn how to create a realistic fourth-generation iPod.

iPod in Photoshop The black version of the iPod.

Creating an Apple iPod Save yourself some money and create an iPod-style image in Photoshop.

Logo and Wallpaper

Green Apple Design Learn in this tutorial how to create Apple-esque wallpaper.

Apple Wallpaper Learn how to design an Apple desktop theme in this tutorial.

Apple’s Brushed Aluminum Create a brushed aluminum texture similar to that of Apple’s products.

Mac - Colorful Design Learn in this tutorial how to design wallpaper with the Mac logo.

Lighting Effect Learn how to create that effect we saw on the screen at Macworld San Francisco.

60 Most Beautiful Apple Wallpapers Showcase of 60 most beautiful Apple-related wallpapers, including the Apple logo, the Mac OS X, time machine, iPods and more.

Video Tutorials

How to Make iPhone Icons A five-minute tutorial on how to make icons like the ones displayed on iPhones and iPod Touches.

iPhone A video tutorial on how to create an iPhone.

Coldplay/Apple Commercial This is a tutorial on how to make the new Apple/Coldplay commercial in Adobe Photoshop.

iMac Create the new iMac completely in Photoshop.

Apple TV Background Learn how to make an Apple TV-style background.

Creating the iTunes Icon Create the iTunes iPhone icon in Photoshop.

Mac Advertisement

Create an iPhone Advertisement Learn how to create an iPhone advertisement similar to this Nano ad with dripping paint.

iPod-Style Brushes We’ve all seen the iPod commercials: trendy and just about cliché by now. Here is a great way to simulate the silhouette style with a brush.

I See iPod People It is easy to simulate the iPod ads. The first thing you’ll need is an image of someone you can extract from the background without too much work.

Design a Coldplay/Apple-Inspired Portrait Simulate the beautiful effect shown in the latest Coldplay/Apple ad.

Creating an Apple-Style Advert A simple tutorial that shows how to make an Apple-style advert. It uses only a couple of effects. The source pack is included here if you want all the material.

Make Your Own iPod-Style Photo The Apple iPod commercials on TV: crazy silhouetted people dancing around with white iPod’s. Learn how to create your own crazy ad.

Attack of the iPod People Another silhouette-style ad tutorial, with the somewhat-semi-official iPod poster palette of colors.