In this tutorial you’ll learn how to use shape path operations, how to use gradients efficiently and most of all how to create an accurate and adjustable donut chart. You can download the resource file to study directly from that. Interested in creating a pie chart instead? View this tutorial: How to Create Adjustable Pie Chart in Photoshop

 

Step 1 – Create the donut

Let’s start by creating the donut itself. Draw a circle sized as big as you want your donut to be. Hold down Shift to draw a perfect circle. Then we are going to draw another circle but before you draw, select combine shapes from the top options menu.

The reason why we do it this way rather than directly subtract is because I want to have the circle perfectly in the middle. To align the circles first select the Path Selection Tool (the black arrow) and hold Shift and select both circles. From the top menus path aligment drop down menu choose Horizontal Centers and Vertical Centers. Make sure that align to selection is active on the dropdown menu.

After aligning the circles, we are going to path operations again and this time we are going to choose Exclude Overlapping Shapes, make sure both of the circles are still selected when you select this option. Now we have our donut ready.

Step 2 – Set the percentage

To have an accurate percentage presented on the chart, we are going to use the gradient for this. Double click the donut layer and go to gradient overlay. For the Style select Angle and then click the gradient to edit the gradient. Choose what colors you want to use in your chart, for the color part we decided go with multicolor instead of just one color, our colors are: #2f68b3 (dark blue), #3cafe5 (light blue) for the gray we used #c9c9c9. If you’re using just one color you’ll just need 2 tabs.

Bring the gray slider next to the light blue slider just like in the image. From the Location you can see the % that it represents. There we pretty much have it but we are going to add a little extra to chart to make it more appealing.

Step 3 – Make it pretty

From the Gradients Angle setting you can adjust the presentation of your chart. We left it at 90 degree. Next we are going to add some inner shadow to the donut it self.

Add a background to the chart by drawing a little bit bigger circle than the donut. Alternatively if you want to leave the center empty, you can duplicate the donut and give it that same layer style as we are about to give the full circle. Give the outer circle Inner Shadow and gradients: Linear, #ffffff (white), #d0d2d5 (light gray). Now you can add you percentage and text in the middle of your chart.

Now there you have it, your adjustable donut chart. How did you like the tutorial? If you have any suggestions or requests, comment below.