daydream believer: Lemonade

Last week, a couple fellow-designer friends and I attended a screening of the documentary Lemonade, put on by some local folks who wanted to get the film's message out, LemonadeSTL. I wasn't sure what to expect. It's a movie about people who have lost their jobs at advertising agencies.

I graduated with an advertising degree, and currently work doing design in-house for a local company. When I graduated from college, I had hopes and dreams of working at some hip agency. I am happy now to have ended up working in a more corporate environment... the agency life is fun for some, but I prefer job stability. So what could I take away from a film about people who have lost theirs?

It turns out Lemonade is very inspiring as far as following your dreams and unleashing your true self. The people the movie took the lemons that life gave them and made lemonade... hence the movie's title. In the end, they all started their own projects/businesses and were all thankful for the opportunities that getting laid off lent them. What a great message! So, even though I am employed at a job I love, the film made me that much more optimistic about life and personal creativity.

One of the people in the movie started the AdRants blog, which I had actually heard of before, and visited sporadically ( I will visit more often now, of course.)

One started an employment site called Please Feed the Animals, which is much more like a support community than your average job-seeker site.

Another started a really neat website called Cards of Change, in which people have lost their jobs alter their business cards to show how they have changed. Here are some of my favorites:

I love the poster for Lemonade, too. It is by designer Brad Kayal. I checked out his site, and there is some awesome stuff in his portfolio. How much do I love these CD covers for the band Fatal Flaw? LOTS.