I just tried doing this as 2D shapes in Photoshop and as 3D shapes in Modo and baking out normals and AO. The 100% Photoshop method was faster and easier. It'd be a cinch to get normals from the shapes in Photoshop, too.
That looks much simpler to make in 3D and bake than to do it all in Photoshop. You could use various baked maps for almost everything there, and you know it will look right because it's actual geometry. Not to mention the normal map will be perfect. Then again it all comes down to what you're comfortable and confident in…
That actually doesn't look like it's baked from geometry to me. To me it looks like they just used some simple rounded squares, some mask/selections and the gradient tool and some texture overlays. The actually bevel just looks like another rounded square with a smaller setting for the roundness and a lighter color. I was…
AO is super easy to fake with paneling, especially when you're doing stuff like Layer Styles. All you need to use is stuff like Drop Shadow and Outer Glow and make sure it's set to multiply. I'm unconvinced that anything outside of Photoshop is necessary. EDIT: Also, it's easy to get those edge highlights without something…