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Start off by preparing your document; you may use a pre-made background listed below.

Let’s begin by creating one of the sides to our pyramid. The pen tool settings are listed below the preview.

Alright.  We have one of our sides.  Let’s begin adding the indent triangle inside.  Using the same pen tool settings, create a similar shape as mine inside.

It looks a little flat because we haven’t added the base to our newly-indented side of a pyramid. Let’s do that right now

Let’s polish our original side of the pyramid.  Take out your doge tool, set it to size 180 and Exposure to 50%, and begin brushing it following the diagram below:

Let’s add an overlay and lower the opacity so that we can make the lighting stand out more.

Let’s go back to the indented pyramid and add some shadows to the base.  Following the diagram below, set your Burn tool to size 40 and begin brushing:

Looking good.  Go back to your original layer of the big pyramid and duplicate it.  Then go to Edit – Transform – Flip Horizontal.

Time for detail once again except this time, we will begin with the shadows since we need to have a set direction of light.  Take out the Burn Tool.  Set the size to 180 and the Exposure at 50%, and start brushing following the diagram below:

After that, drop the opacity to 70% and you should have something along the lines of this:

On top of the shadows, we need to fix up the light as well.  So take out your Dodge Tool and set the size to 180 and Exposure 50%.  Begin brushing following the diagram below:

Apply the same overlay as you have did in the previous step.  After that, duplicate the indented triangle and go to Edit – Transform – Flip Horizontal.  Now you’re pretty much done.  Take a look at what this pyramid came out to be:

That about wraps it all.  Hopefully it was a relatively easy tutorial to follow.

Our first step would be creating a custom shape, which will be the Diamond Card from your Custom Shape Tool’s selection.  So grab that shape, set the background to white, and create an average size icon to the left-hand side of your background.

Now that we have our shape, let’s add some base to it so that it will look more bulky.  I have put together a list of Layer Styles that you should apply, so go to Layer > Layer Style > … and begin!

Looking good.  Our base is complete, so let’s begin to add details that will start the finish cut of our icon.  Grab the same Diamond Card Shape, and create the same icon, except smaller and inside the base of our icon.  Oh, and set the background to #ff6c00.

We are getting closer to home, so now that we have the finish cut of our icon, let’s put some more detail on it.  Duplicate the shape that you have just created, and apply the following Layer Style:

Results

Duplicate the same shape again, and clear all layer styles.  Now rasterize the shape, and grab your Burn Tool.  Start touching the left-hand side of the orange diamond.  Then grab the Eraser Tool to do some minor touch-up on the areas that stood out a little.

Results

Now let’s add some shine to it.  Duplicate the original orange diamond again, clear off any layer styles, and grab your Dodge Tool.  Set the size to 110. and touch up on the top side of the diamond. Grab your Eraser Tool, and finish touching up on the areas that stand out.

Results

We are almost in shape.  A few more details, and our icon is ready to be used.  Duplicate the orange diamond again, set the background to white, and rasterize it.  Then grab your Eliptical Marquee Tool, and cut off a nice chunk.  You can follow my guides beneath.  Once you have cut the shape, set the Blending Options to Overlay.  Use your Eraser Tool to touch up on the areas that stand out.

Results

You can give yourself a nice pat on the back as we have just completed the most difficult part of the tutorial.  Everything else should go with an ease, so let’s get to it.  Go back to your Custom Shape Tool, and from the list, select School.  Place the shape in the center of the orange diamond, and go to Edit – Transform – Flip Horizontal.

Results

Let’s add some detail to our newly-installed shape.  Go to your Layer – Layer Style, and apply the following styles:

Results

You are now done.  You can go ahead and duplicate the icons and resize them.  After playing around a little, I got this: