241: Success Through Failure with Dom Prevost
- Diana Varma
- Apr 1
- 3 min read
Yes, I do love printing and design, typography and branding, books and publishing. I feel grateful that I get to chat with so many incredible folks in these spaces (today’s guest is no exception!). I am particularly grateful when I have guests to talk about a passion layered underneath all of these areas: education.
This is a 3-part mini series about new ways of thinking about education, assessments, grading and ungrading with 3 brilliant educators who work and teach in the spaces of communication, design, creativity, art and art therapy.
First up is Dom Prevost: Seasoned in both advertising and design, Dom has worked in top agencies around the world, from Paris and London to Sydney, Melbourne, New York, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Over the course of his two-decade career, he spearheaded the development of award-winning, fully-integrated campaigns for adidas, lululemon, Nike, Toyota, Smart, Mercedes, Johnnie Walker, Red Bull, Sony Playstation, and the list goes on. He also teaches at Miami Ad School and Vancouver's IDEA School of Design, while actively involved as a collaborator, jury member, and keynote speaker at industry events across North America and Europe.
Dom’s work has been repeatedly recognized in the industry’s major award shows, including the Cannes Lions, One Show, London International, and the Advertising & Design Club of Canada. His work has also been covered by The New York Times, The Guardian, Fast Company and Time Magazine… and now Talk Paper Scissors!
In this episode, you’ll hear about Dom’s teaching role and specifically around a course he teaches that, at its core, is helping students succeed through embracing failure by removing control and providing space for things to go wrong. You’ll hear about Dom’s creative exercises that draw a line directly from his role as Creative Director to his classroom (brainstorm bootcamp and his critique hot seat), as well as how his views on failure have evolved as he’s evolved as a creative leader.
Dom explains why and how creativity is a muscle to be exercised and not born genius, what he hopes to instil in his students about failure, iteration and pushing past the first ideas, as well as how he uses grades not as a means of control and power, but as a means of relinquishing control and power, handing it back to students to show up with good, bad and ugly ideas.
Finally, Dom gives us a sneak peek at his upcoming new workshop at DesignThinkers Vancouver, May 13-14, 2025.
May the food, gym and transportation metaphors flow freely in this conversation about creative education, both as a noun and as a verb.
Let’s listen in…
About Our Guest:
Seasoned in both advertising and design, Dominic worked in top agencies around the world, from Paris and London to Sydney, Melbourne, New York, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Over the course of his two-decade career, he spearheaded the development of award-winning, fully-integrated campaigns for adidas, lululemon, Nike, Toyota, Smart, Mercedes, Johnnie Walker, Red Bull, Sony Playstation, and the list goes on. He also teaches at Miami Ad School and Vancouver's IDEA School of Design, while actively involved as a collaborator, jury member, and keynote speaker at industry events across North America and Europe.
Dominic’s work has been repeatedly recognized in the industry’s major award shows, including the Cannes Lions, One Show, London International, and the Advertising & Design Club of Canada. His work has also been covered by The New York Times, The Guardian, Fast Company and Time Magazine.
He currently leads the creative department at Resonance where he creates brands and campaigns for cities, destinations and hotels all around the world.
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Music:
A Kwela Fella - John Bartmann licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal License
Talk Paper Scissors Theme Music: Retro Quirky Upbeat Funk by Lewis Sound Production via Audio Jungle
