Awaken Design Company | News & Updates Blog

Awaken
Design Company
News Blog

Keep in the loop with what we're up to....new projects, freebie giveaways, stuff about our awesome clients and random shenanigans.

Facebook Timelines :: “Like” or “DisLike”

Posted on March 3, 2012 by anthony

So….the new timeline’s are upon us over at Facebook! We have the option to optionally shift over to them now, or wait it out until March 30th until we’re automatically upgraded. Well – We went ahead and shifted over by choice (see below), we were a little reluctant at first to be honest. The main reason we were so reluctant was because it’s so new/unfamiliar, and honestly a little bit confusing because of how the posts are displayed. However there are some super neat things about it that we LOVE!

“LIKES”:

More like “LOVE” – We are in love with the new URL’s that they’re allowing for pages. Instead of requiring us to have a long url like this: facebook.com/pages/19872358723498-awakendesigncompany we now have a super sleek URL that is simple and easy to direct users to: facebook.com/awakendesigncompany. What’s not to love about that?!
The addition of cover photos, and a new header layout is very nice! We love being able to showcase a large picture of our work, and a nice little square avatar. It’s so neat to create a nice contrast between the two, and i’m sure we’re going to see some really cool things become of this feature from many pages. Cool touch, Facebook – we dig!!
Nicer admin panel for managing notifications.
Private messages….eh, pretty cool I suppose. Not sure how much we’ll use this since emailing is our preferred communication, but this could be nice.
“Sticky” or “Favorite” posts. Now this is cool….you can click the little star on a post and make it a featured post that stretches the width of your timeline, drawing emphasis to important posts! NICE!

However, with some good changes there are some negatives, or should I say things you have to get used to. The “DISLIKES”:

Number 1….widgets/apps/welcome pages/etc are now secondary to the timeline. They will now show up in box under your cover photo. This may not be a total make or break if you direct people correctly to your desired apps, and utilize them correctly. But i’m sure this is going to cause a lot of stir with people reinventing how they use them since so many people used “welcome pages” to greet users.
Just a bit of getting used to all around….
there’s not a lot of negative to be said about the Facebook timeline in my opinion really. This is a nice step up, well designed, and has some really cool new functionality. I think the timeline’s appearance will take some time to get used to for everyone, but I think we’ll all grow to love it once we familiar with it.

To check out our Facebook pages go to: facebook.com/awakendesigncompany and facebook.com/awakenclothing – Give us a “LIKE” and keep up with everything we’re doing!

Keep up with us { social networks of Awaken Design Company }

Posted on February 28, 2012 by anthony

There is a ton of awesomeness going on here at Awaken Design Company! It’s such an exciting time for us as a company and for our clients – We’re seeing all sorts of growth and we’re getting to create some of the coolest websites/designs ever! Along with all the growth we really want you to keep up with us and see everything that we’re working so hard on….additionally if you’re a client seeking to take the plunge into getting a professionally designed website/graphic project, then we want to show you we’re the guys for the job!

We have made our company as available as possible among the hottest social networks, and we update them all on a weekly (some of them daily) basis. So give us a follow, “like” and all that other Jazz! We’re always stoked to let people know what we’re up to!

So what do you guys post on each of the networks?

We’re happy to tell ya, look below – cause each of them serve their own purpose:

Dribbble: We post quite a few sneak-peeks when the project allows on Dribbble. They’re small little peeks to hold you over ’till the full project gets posted in our portfolio and to let you know what we’re up to.
Facebook: We post a lot of updates about what we’re doing, new projects in our folio, availability for new work, random shenanigans, the normal stuff.
LinkedIn: This is the normal “corporate-y” professional network, if you’re on there you know what it’s all about.
Pinterest: This is where we post a lot of our work and inspirations for the work we do. We additionally pin some of our clothing line stuff here.
Twitter: This is some of the same stuff from our Facebook. But we have a lot of our accounts set up to post automatically on Twitter. So if you want a lot of constant updates about Awaken, follow us!
Blog: You’re here! This is all about our company, contests, freebie giveaways, project launches and all sorts of awesomeness!

We hope you all will check us out on as many of the social networks as you have. We’re always stoked to connect with our clients/customers/followers, and we love to know you all are keeping up with us and making us keep our game up

It’s back! The ‘Peace Is Found Within’ shirt by Awaken Clothing!

Posted on February 7, 2012 by anthony

We’ve had a ton of interest from people who want to see the “Peace Is Found Within” design reprinted….so we answered back over at Awaken Clothing with a fresh dose of awesomeness to this already sweet design….

We decided to revisit this design on a darker colored shirt, with a light grey ink. The shirts are going to be printed on American Apparel 50/50′s (our personal favorites), with a super soft vintage print courtesy of our friends over at Terminus Tees!

Also, for those who don’t know – Our clothing lines shirts always have a deeper meaning, and they’re always based off of something. Check out the writing that goes along with this one below:
‘Oh sons and daughters
Jump ship from the life you’ve always known
Step out into the water
Out into the unknown
Where I can show you power
Where I can show you hope
Where you can truly come to life
Abandon your false sense of security
Peace is found within the crashing of waves
When we’ve abandoned all we know
For something so much more’
- Written By: Anthony Roe . MMIX

We hope you all are as stoked as we are for this shirt to be printed again!

Win some Awaken Freebies (buttons/stickers/tees!)!

Posted on February 3, 2012 by anthony

Happy Friday to everyone! With Friday comes much excitement for many people….around here we always like to do cool things to end our work-week, typically we like to do so by doing something awesome for someone else….it’s just how we roll! Well this week we’re doing a FREEBIE Giveaway! In this freebie giveaway you’ll have the chance to win Buttons/Stickers and 2 FREE Tees! See below for the details and how to win:

What YOU Have to do:

1. Go “LIKE” our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Awaken-Design-Company/152771248823
2. Leave a comment on our wall telling us what your favorite project is from our Portfolio, say “Give me some FREEBIES!!!” and leave your email address (so we can get your mailing address to send you your freebies).
3. Then copy/paste the following status onto your Facebook:

I just “LIKED” Awaken Design Company on Facebook, go do so as well: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Awaken-Design-Company/152771248823 and find them online at http://www.awakendesigncompany.com?ref=freebiegiveaway

What You’ll Get:

The Freebie giveaway will run until we get 20 new “LIKES” and comments from you lovely peeps.
18 of the new people who “LIKE” our page will receive a free button/sticker pack (see below)
Then 2 of the new people will receive 1 FREE tee shirt each from the Awaken Clothing Online Shop.

The winners of the 2 free tee-shirts will be based on what order the comment appears on our Facebook wall, we have 2 lucky numbers pre-chosen and we will publicly announce the winners after the giveaway ends. Then we will email everyone who won to gather up shipping addresses and mail these goodies out to you!

Have fun and enjoy!

Project Launch: TRUVOW Custom BigCartel Theme (w/ mobile view)

Posted on January 17, 2012 by anthony

We just launched a brand new BigCartel Shop and Site with mobile view that we’re extremely excited about!

You can read all about this exciting new project in our portfolio here, we definitely pulled out all the stops on this websites theme and we’re extremely excited about how it turned out!

Buy This Websites Theme :: Awaken Themes Coming Soon!

But not only are we excited about this because it’s a new custom project – But part of the arrangements with our client entitled us the rights to resell this theme for use with other peoples websites! Very soon we will be releasing a new part of our site for our “Awaken Themes” and you’ll be able to purchase this template along with many others to use on your BigCartel and Storenvy shops as well as some things for WordPress….exciting stuff, stay tuned!

Top Games of 2011 – Awaken Style!

Posted on January 11, 2012 by anthony

If you’ve been around us or talked to us enough you’ll know that we are all about some good gaming! This is what you’ll find us doing in the late hours after we’ve finally pulled ourselves away from coding and design marathons! And man….2011 was a great year for gaming! It seemed like everything we are into got released this year! And just like every year, we wanted to post our favorites and show what kept us entertained….

Top Games of 2011

Not only was this year a total blast as a gamer – But it was an exciting one for our company as we had the chance to work with a few of the largest titles that were released. We are only able to showcase one of them right now (ie: our Uncharted 3 Shirt Design), but we will update our portfolio as soon as we have word on the others. It was so awesome to be on the other side of the tracks and get to design for some of our favorite games – We actually found ourselves studying the games more, getting into the whole game design and implementing that into our work….it was so cool to mix our love for the work we do with our most favorite hobby.

Here’s to another great year of gaming, awesome design work and lots of fun and good times for 2012!

Project Launch: Beneath Rejection BigCartel Shop & Site

Posted on November 30, 2011 by anthony

We just launched a brand new BigCartel Shop and Site that has been in the works for the past few months, and we’re so excited to finally be able to showcase it!

We created a totally custom design and development for Beneath Rejection – Including: A custom BigCartel online shop and WordPress based blog/subpage content management system! You can read the full details in our portfolio here.

We were so thrilled with the opportunity to work with this new brand and it was a total pleasure taking their ideas and turning them into a reality! The feeling was mutual, here’s what our client had to say about working with us:

“Working with Anthony at Awaken Design has been nothing short of a pleasure. He managed to take my ideas and build on them (and improve them) from the other side of the world. Building this website was a huge milestone for my label and I couldn’t be more thrilled with how it’s turned out. Aside from the awesome work, clear communication and quick turn around the best part about working with Awaken was that Anthony was enthusiastic and supportive of my project – makes a nice change from working with people who treat you like just another client.
I would recommend both the man and the company to anyone without hesitation. Amazing work – thank you!”

“You’re a rock star! Looks amazing! Can’t wait to launch this today.
Honestly can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done. You’re the best.”