Silver metallic type is stacked out of layer styles. Bevel & Emboss builds the volume, Gradient Overlay supplies the metallic sheen, Stroke hardens the edges, and Inner Glow, Outer Glow and a Drop Shadow finish it off. One thing matters most: keep the styles and set Fill to 0, so the metal reads clean.
1️⃣ Add a text layer
- Select the Type tool (T) in the toolbar, click on the canvas and type the text you want (for example
METAL). - A heavy sans-serif works best (Montserrat Bold, Futura Extra Bold, Impact and so on). Set the color to white for now.
- Adjust the size to suit the canvas, but keep it comfortably readable.
2️⃣ Bevel & Emboss — build the volume
- Right-click the text layer → Blending Options.
- Tick Bevel & Emboss and use these settings:
| Structure | Depth 100% |
| Direction | Up |
| Size | 12 px (adjust to the text size) |
| Soften | 0 px |
| Angle | 120° |
| Altitude | 30° |
| Gloss Contour | Linear |
| Highlight Mode | Color, white (#FFFFFF) Opacity 75% |
| Shadow Mode | Color, black (#000000) Opacity 45% |
3️⃣ Gradient Overlay — the metal itself
Still in the same Blending Options panel, tick Gradient Overlay and set:
| Blend Mode | Overlay |
| Opacity | 85% |
| Angle | 90° (vertical) |
| Scale | 100% |
| Gradient | Pick the silver metal gradient on the left (#E0E0E0 → #A0A0A0 → #FFFFFF), or define your own: |
Custom gradient example (click twice in the Gradient Editor):
- Left stop: #E5E5E5 (color) — position 0%
- Middle stop: #B0B0B0 (color) — position 50%
- Right stop: #FFFFFF (color) — position 100%
Overlay makes the lights lighter and the darks darker, which is what produces the metal's highlights and shadows.4️⃣ Stroke — harden the metal edge
- Still in the Blending Options panel, tick Stroke.
- Settings:
| Size | 2 px (adjust slightly to the text size) |
| Position | Inside |
| Fill Type | Color |
| Color | #CCCCCC (light gray) |
| Blend Mode | Multiply |
| Opacity | 90% |
5️⃣ Inner Glow — the metallic light
Tick Inner Glow with:
| Blend Mode | Screen |
| Color | #FFFFFF (white) |
| Opacity | 30% |
| Noise | 0% |
| Size | 3 px |
| Source | Inner |
6️⃣ Outer Glow — lift the sheen further
- Tick Outer Glow.
- Settings:
| Blend Mode | Linear Dodge |
| Color | #FFFFFF (white) |
| Opacity | 25% |
| Size | 6 px |
| Range | Outer |
7️⃣ Drop Shadow — add depth
Tick Drop Shadow with the usual settings:
| Blend Mode | Multiply |
| Color | #000000 (black) |
| Opacity | 45% |
| Distance | 8 px |
| Angle | 120° |
| Spread | 0 px |
| Size | 10 px |
8️⃣ Duplicate the text layer and bevel again — sharpen the cut
- Select the text layer, press Ctrl+J to duplicate it, and name it
Text‑sharp. - Open Blending Options on the copy and tick Bevel & Emboss again, this time with slightly different values for a sharper highlight:
| Size | 8 px (smaller than the original) |
| Soften | 0 px |
| Angle | 130° (a little further right) |
| Altitude | 45° |
| Highlight color | #FFFFFF, opacity 80% |
| Shadow color | #000000, opacity 30% |
9️⃣ The key trick — keep the layer styles, drop the fill color
Once the styles are stacked you'll notice the original fill color still contributes — white especially washes the metallic sheen out. The fix is simple:
- In the Layers panel, select every text layer (the original and the copy).
- At the top of the panel there is a Fill slider — set the value to 0%.
That removes the letter color itself, leaving only the metal produced by the layer styles.
- Fill only affects the layer's own color; it does not touch layer styles such as Bevel & Emboss or Outer Glow.
- With Fill at 0% only the effect layers remain, so the metal looks purer and sharper.
🔚 The finished effect
You should now have silver metallic type like the example below:
To fine-tune it, adjust the bevel Size, the light Angle, or the Outer Glow opacity to make the sheen softer or stronger.
References
- Adobe Photoshop official documentation
- HTML5 and the principles of modern front-end image processing
- Online PS