the Awesomeness poster – all you’ll ever want to know.
November 2, 2007
…and then some. So it appears a lot of people are very taken by not only Barney’s Awesomeness motivational poster (probably my most popular post to date was just about what the poster said …which in case you missed it is: "When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story." ) from How I Met Your Mother (great season so far, btw.), but also by his whole collection of motivational posters. But for now, as promised here is all you will ever want to know about the awesomeness poster.
First of all… let me start with my original fan version of the awesomeness poster. Not only did I make a large poster, I also made up some desktop wallpapers. They are decent so feel free to partake: 1027.768, 1152.864, 1280.960, 1600.1200.
The awesomeness poster from Barney’s office did come with the Season 2 DVD if you buy it at Target. I haven’t been able to find one there in quite some time, but that’s the only official release I know of. 
I should also offer thanks to howimetyourblog.com for the proof, story and photo. Cheers to you !
I’m glad we can get a hold of the real thing right? Well for me it’s not that simple. This poster looks decent size but I love big poster…maybe it’s just me though. besides not like my wife would let me hang it on the wall . Either way, I have read and searched quite extensively on the subject, and from what I can tell this is pretty much an exclusive deal with Target. It would be nice if they had several different of Barney’s motivational posters, but I figure they either have it planned for the future (for info on all the posters’ check out Barney Stinson Office Poster Collection) or they have no plans whatsoever do do anything more with them. Also, I am not totally sure about the actual size of the poster that comes with the DVD. I did find some interesting resources for anyone interested in making a poster that looks like the real thing. I searched for weeks through literally thousands of stock photos to find the original F16 fighter jet stockphoto on the poster…I finally came across it…
Aaron..you may ask..where can I find said photo? I figured you would ask so here is a link to it on iStockPhoto… enjoy.
Secondly though, I ran across a made up Awesomeness Poster on flickr by luzarie. It’s pretty close to the original poster. Same sort of colors and what not if your not in the mood for downloading the stock photo and making your own (which I still may do). It’s not bad but still much smaller than I would want at about 12" x 17".
Finally, If you want about the closest thing you can find on the net try out the poster in the beawesomeinstead store and grab one there.
Also… I feel the need to start a conspiracy theory. 
So what we know for sure is that the Awesomeness poster is first mentioned in Season 1 Episode 17 (Life Among the Gorillas) of HIMYM. And when it is mentioned Barney motions to either the back left corner of his office behind his desk. We also know that the poster makes it first "on screen" appearance in Season 3 Episode 1 (Wait For It…) (..stop waiting that was the name of the episode, sheesh) and at this time it is behind Barney’s desk to the right of the center of the room. So he just moved his posters around right? Wrong.
If you take a look at not only episode 1.17 but also Season 1 Episode 21 (Milk) you will see so full shots which I will post below. Check them out and let me know what you notice .
Let me point out a few things. First, in the area Barney pointed, the awesomeness poster is not there. Behind his desk there is no poster with the F-16 jet we saw in season 3 or the correct number of letters for the word "Awesomeness." It can’t be on the wall to the left of Barney because as you ca see there is just a huge set of windows. Was there even an awesomeness poster is Season 1…or just the mention of it. It seems to me that, as they do sometimes, fans made such a deal out of it that they threw it in in Season 3 as a great gag. Does this mean that all of Season 1 was a lie? Well… actually yes, it is a TV show remember? Sheesh, you all take this way to serious…
Either way…Thanks for reading. Thoughts and comments are welcome!
*slight update – Since I get a lot of questions on it I have researched and released the definitive work with as much detail as I could find on the complete Barney Stinson Office Poster Collection. True Story.
Also, if you haven’t done so yet check out the Be Awesome Instead Store for the Awesomeness Posters and others!
Posted in Television, how i met your mother
November 2nd, 2007 at 4:39 pm
[...] over and check out the full post for all you could possibly want to know about Barney’s Awesomeness poster. Share and [...]
November 2nd, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Wow! What a write up! Thanks for all the information and the link love.
I was hoping to email you but, can’t find an email address on your site. Shoot me an email to the email address supplied with this post.
Oh, and War Eagle!
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November 2nd, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Ben,
Thanks so much for the comments and returning the link love! I’ll be posting an email address in my about section shortly.
War Eagle all the way!
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November 18th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
I’m so glad someone made an awesomeness poster! I’d be interested in ordering it if it were smaller. Would you consider making a smaller version? I’d like to have one small enough to hang put on my desk at work.
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November 18th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
Marie,
Thanks for your comments! I’ll work on one and put it up in the next few days…I also thought about doing a mousepad…Thoughts?
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December 16th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
I made one too:)
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December 16th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
@ patrick
Nice. Did you make on like the original or using a different photo/ slogan?
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January 3rd, 2008 at 11:19 am
[...] here. I’ll do my best to make them desktops but who knows. Many of you already know about the Awesomeness Motivational Poster (I know the post was on a Friday but work with me here people), so I won’t include that one [...]
January 17th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
can someone finish this one needs only the text
http://massmirror.com/e398ba7b87a65bc984e3a9e8cd0c8b25.html
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January 18th, 2008 at 1:00 am
not a bad poster. I could easily Photoshop it but the quality seems low. The size is large enough for a big poster however it’s only in 72 dpi….I wouldn’t print anything less than 200 dpi (and that is pushing it). After you convert it to 300 (or 200 dpi) it about the same size as the one lazurie has on flickr.
Thanks though.
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January 24th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
The original jet picture available exclusively on iStockphoto has at it’s largest size available a 206.8 dpi image that is 8×10 inches large. The largest poster I’ve been able to make without converting the image to a larger dpi is 12×17. Like aaron says, the image quality goes downhill quickly if you try to make it any larger.
I’ve tried to make several sizes of this image (5×7, 8×10, 11×17, 12×17 so far) on my Flickr page for folks to use but a truly large poster is just not possible. Sorry folks.
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March 2nd, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Hi,
I have a guestion to you guys, does anyone of you know what the text under the penguins says?
Maybe: …. “It´s the one who is different who is left out in the cold”.
please help me
thx
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March 2nd, 2008 at 10:26 pm
@ Lazaire
Thanks for the confirmation man.
@Packfriend
The Penguin poster is for Conformity and does in fact say “It’s the one who is different that gets let out in the cold”…I have actually seen it somewhere… if you find it before I do please post some info here!
Thanks for visiting.
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March 17th, 2008 at 7:54 am
[...] They are the “exclusive” holders of the Awesomeness Poster stock photo “Vapor Trail.” That’s right. For all of you lovers of How I Met Your [...]
May 8th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
[...] What it actually says is pretty funny, and it got me thinking about the real motivational posters you see in SkyMall — you know, the ones with misty images of rainbows and sunrises and wise quotes from philosophers and poets. [...]
May 9th, 2008 at 8:08 am
I would like to buy this poster. Does anyone know where I can purchase it?
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May 9th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Over 2,000 views later and someone finally wised me up to the fact that I was spelling his name as Barney Stinton in the smaller Awesomeness posters. That’s been fixed now. Sorry folks.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/luzaire/sets/72157602499940050
And Amstar, feel free to download any of the pictures on my flickr page and print them out at your favorite digital picture printer. (i.e. home, local photo place, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, etc.)
If you want to print the big 12×18 poster that looks the most like the original on the show you will need to find someone capable of printing a large poster size, like QOOP.
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May 16th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Luzaire….
You are totally the man… really. I did go ahead and put one like the original up on cafepress…had to save up for the resale license from iStockphoto…maybe I’ll break even. lol….By the way, sorry that your comment has been stuck in my spam queue for almost a week now!
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June 1st, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Has anyone put together a poster or desktop wallpaper for the Conformity penguins? A link to the .jpg would be awesome. Thanks a lot!
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June 2nd, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Danny… Try this out: the Conformity Motivational Poster
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June 3rd, 2008 at 12:11 am
[...] Your Mother fans. It’s no secret that most of my visitors come here for information on Barney Stinson’s Awesomeness Poster. Many of you have also requested some of the other Motivational Posters from Barney’s office. [...]
August 11th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
that last picture quite clearly says perfection under the jets
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August 28th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
@frenzal….your right it does… but there is more the the story…I don’t’ want to give too much away but it’s coming soon.
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September 2nd, 2008 at 8:13 am
[...] goodies will come with this season? As you all may know Season 2 came with a small and much coveted Awesomeness Poster and there are always cool “extras” with each [...]
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:41 am
I was speaking to my friends recently about this and one of my friends swears by his life that the poster actually says “When I get sick I stop being sick and be Awesome instead. True story.” He believes this as in one of the episodes Barny gets sick and apparently says “I never get sick! When I get sick I stop being sick and be Awesome instead”.
Just thought I’d throw that out there and though you might wanna see if you could find the ep. and check this out.
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September 3rd, 2008 at 12:07 pm
I agree with Nick, quite certain that he is right. I’ve been using this since I heard it. Every time someone I know gets sick, I tell them to stop being sick and instead to be awesome.
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September 3rd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
@Nick and Brett.
Yes he says it in an episode… it’s a very cool saying, I use it all the time as well…however it is not what is on the poster. The poster saying uses “sad” and not “sick”. Barney says the quote with “sad” in an earlier episode than the “sick” quote plus the “teaser poster” that came with the Season 2 DVD said sad.
Sad? Sorry… thank for visiting and your thoughts!
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September 5th, 2008 at 4:34 am
I found a bit of text under the poster of the four hands holding on to each other which says ‘Teamwork’.
I believe the text says: The chain is only as strong as the weakest link. I’m dutch, so not that good at recognizing english text. Maybe you can make out more?
Resources:
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t117/cowboyhd/MenOnTV/Shows/HIMYM%20-%20S03E01/HIMYM-3×01-37.jpg
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t117/cowboyhd/MenOnTV/Shows/HIMYM%20-%20S03E01/HIMYM-3×01-36.jpg
I also found a couple of other posters on that image, namely:
Greatness (without pic visible and unreadable text)
Discovery (with a picture of a sailing ship, but again unreadable text)
Challenge (with a picture of a rock wall climber; i can recognize the words ‘find a way’ in the text)
I hope it helps.
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September 8th, 2008 at 8:16 am
[...] important issue is that they change from season to season! You may remember in my article about the Awesomeness Poster, that I posted this theory: Finally… I feel the need to start a conspiracy theory. So what we [...]
September 8th, 2008 at 10:32 am
@ Floor
You beat me to the punch by a few days. Here is a post detailing as much info as I coudl find about the Barney Stinson Office Poster Collection. True Story.
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October 6th, 2008 at 8:08 am
[...] to check it out as well. If you remember howimetyourblog.com was one of the first to show the Awesomeness Poster some link love. Thanks for your [...]
December 18th, 2008 at 6:13 am
[...] Today, 05:13 AM You can buy Barney’s Awesomeness Poster at this store: http://www.cafepress.com/bawesomeinsteadYou can also learn everything there is to know about it from this post:the Awesomeness poster – all you’ll ever want to know. | be awesome instead [...]
December 31st, 2008 at 6:31 pm
[...] later). Sadly, there was a quick look at Barney’s office posters (though I only saw focus) but no Awesomeness Poster, despite finally getting a shot of his office this [...]
January 1st, 2009 at 8:13 am
[...] that to ask this, what are you looking for here? How I Met Your Mother show recaps? Scrubs stuff? Awesomeness? BAI has increased from it’s awesome beginnings to around 450 unique visits and over 1100 page [...]
January 21st, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Hey!
Nice to see you putting so much thought into it^^ I loved “how i met your mother” when I was in the US, and it REALLY sucks to live in Germany w/o it -.-
Thanks a lot for posting the flickr link, I printed that poster in 8.5×11 and now it’s hanging on my wall. Actually I bought the “Bro Code” book, too, but that wasn’t that funny… on TV it’s better.
To all those who can: enjoy the show! It’s really great, you can’t imagine how much I miss it…
Take care
Dorian
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aaron Reply:
January 27th, 2009 at 9:09 am
@Dorian, sorry your “mother” situation is so grim. Hopefully you can find a way around that…
I thought that the Bro Code was funny, but like you are saying, once you have seen Barney live it on the show then the book pales in comparison.
Keep coming back, I’ll try to keep you up to date!
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February 3rd, 2009 at 3:19 pm
[...] So glad you asked. If you have ever watched the TV show How I Met Your Mother you would probably know that Barney (a character on the show) had commissioned an “Awesomeness Poster” to be made. On the poster, the motivational phrase was “When I get sad, I just stop being sad and be awesome instead. True Story.” I was sad, because this became my motto to live by but I could not find the poster anywhere. So I commissioned my own to be made. You can find it here. If you want even more information on this amazing poster check out this article on Barney’s Awesomeness Motivational Poster. [...]
February 4th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
[...] – For those of you visiting here, you might want to check out a more recent post with all you will ever want to know about Barney’s Awesomeness Poster. Not only does it tell you “everything about it, but also here to buy one or what you need to [...]
March 23rd, 2009 at 10:20 pm
[...] be together. I just like episodes that have moments that seem to stick out…like when we first saw the Awesomeness Poster, the hot crazy scale, the blue horn, or even the Bracket… things like that. This episode was [...]
March 28th, 2009 at 1:14 am
What happened to the store? It gives an error message now!
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March 28th, 2009 at 7:30 am
@T-Bucket …looks to be working from this end. If you still can’t get it to work please let me know!
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August 14th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Huge fan of both How I Met Your Mother and Barney in particular. Got to love that he has our Teamwork Rowers poster among others.
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November 12th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
[...] the Awesomeness poster – all you’ll ever want to know. | be awesome instead "When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story." (tags: humour television graphics work @2dl) [...]
November 20th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
I have an awesomeness wallpaper on my laptop. My brother is a blackhawk pilot in the army and I am wondering if you could make an awesomeness wallpaper with a UH- 60 Blackhawk helicopter. That would be awesome if you could! Thanks
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November 20th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
sure thing Matt… find me a pic of one of those choppers. I’ll email you too.
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March 10th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
[...] but Happy International Day of Awesomeness! I’ve been busy celebrating all day, plus I had my awesomeness poster to remind [...]