Photoshop Tutorials » SkinnyLayout

Step 1 - Starting Out
Create a new 600x600 document with a dark grey background color. Step 2 - Container Base
Make a new selection with the "Rectangular Marquee Tool," 600x400 in size. Fill it with a light blue using the "Paint Bucket Tool." Step 3 - Side Shadows
Make another selection using the same steps as before. Only make it 100x600 in size. Once you make it, align it to the left side of the document like in the image above. Select the "Gradient Tool," and with a black to transparent gradient, and drag it across to make a shadow like below on a new layer. Duplicate the layer, and go to Edit»Transform»Flip Horizontal. Then move it to the right side to produce another shadow on the right side of the document. Step 4 - Header
Make another selection. This time make it 396x100. Position it at the top of the document, and then fill it in with a dark blue color. Step 5 - Base
Make another selection. This time make it 396x100. Position it at the top of the document, and then fill it in with a dark blue color. Step 6 - Gloss Coat
Reset your foreground/background colors by hitting "D" on your keyboard. Next, with the selection still up, click on the "Gradient Tool." Use the "Foreground to Transparent" preset, and give gloss to the upper part of the image. If done correctly, it should look like something below. Play around with the length/distance to achieve various effects. Step 7 - Soft Light Color Change
Hold down ctrl, and click on the rounded rectangle layer's icon. This will make a selection for us to work with. Create a new layer above the rounded rectangle one. Now with a Black to Transparent gradient, make a gradient selection over the entire rounded rectangle, going from top to bottom. Change the layer's blending mode to "Soft Light," and something like the image below should span in return. Step 8 - Navigation Bar
Make another selection like in the steps before. Go for a size around 396x25 or so. On a new layer, fill the selection with an orange color using the "Paint Bucket Tool." Step 9 - Logo Base
With a thick font, select the "Text Tool", and type out some text to use for the header. I used Tutorial in mine, respectively. Step 10 - Additional Touches to Logo
Create a new layer, and position it under the logo's text layer. Grab the pencil tool, and fill in any O's in your title with a bright color. I used pink, but other bright colors could work as well. Then underline it to give it a little more detail. Step 11 - Top Text
Use a small, light grey text to type out a little slogan in the top bar. I used the font called Arial, and with a size of 11px. Step 12 - Navigation Base
Select the "Rounded Rectangle Tool." With a radius of 3-5px, make a rounded rectangle like in the image below. Be sure to position it in a vertical center. Step 13 - Link Text
Select the "Text Tool," and type in your first navigation text. I used "Home." Make sure it is the same font as the top text, and also be sure it's white. Step 14 - Duplicating Navigation Base
Duplicate the Navigation Base layer. Now with the "Move Tool," hold down shift and drag it right until it kind of stops/locks into place, then stop. It should be to the right of the first base. Now at this part, hit the right arrow on your keyboard 5 or 10 times, depending on how far apart you want these to be. Repeat this for however many navigation links you want to have. Step 15 - More Link Text
Repeat step 13, only with all the navigation base layers. Once your done, you should have something like the step below. Step 16 - Filler Text
Time to add some good ol' filler text to top off this tutorial. It's best to use a smaller font, 12px seems to do the trick most of the time. I used "Lipsum" to represent the filler selection. Do what you want with it, use it in your next template or whatever. It's up to you (obviously -_-) Step 17 - Transparency on Text
Delete all the navigation bases, as we were just using them as positioning for the link text inside of them. Once you do that, change the opacity of all the other link text to 25-50%. Step 18 - Title
Add a "News" or another title to the top of the page with a big, thick font. A dark grey/brown color works great here. Step 19 - Filler Text
Grab some "Lipsum" filler text from Lipsum.org. Paste it into a next text box in the document. It should look like something below now. Step 20 - Rounded Rectangle Header
Grab the "Rounded Rectangle Tool" one last time. With a black color select and the radius at 3-5px, drag it across the screen to make a header base. Change the opacity to an extremely low amount (5-10%.) It should look like something below. Step 21 - Filler Text
Add some more text with the "Text Tool" to represent the title and date. This template could work well for a personal site. Enjoy. End! Job well done!

Photoshop Tutorials » SkinnyLayout