Fed up with bloated processes and predictable design, Mischief Maker launches with a mission to revive brand storytelling through bold, thoughtful mischief. We talked with co-founders Natalie Prout and Vini Vieira to explore how the fledgling studio plans to shake up the system.
In an industry all too often weighed down by deck overload and endless layers of sign-off, a new creative studio is out to make a clean break. Mischief Maker, founded by Natalie Prout and Vini Vieira, is on a mission to reignite the spark in branding with one dose of carefully honed mischief at a time.
Officially launched this month, Mischief Maker is the product of what both Natalie and Vini describe as a year of transition and questioning. “2024 was a year of real transition for both of us. We were each asking, ‘Where to next?’—still wanting to make meaningful, impactful work, but not finding places with the appetite to support what that really takes,” Vini explains.
When a mutual contact spotted their shared frustrations and connected them, the chemistry was immediate. “Too many brands today have lost what made them matter. We built Mischief Maker to change that – a studio where we could challenge the system, stay close to the work, and do things differently.”
Mischief with meaning
The clue is in the name: Mischief Maker wants to inject nerve back into branding, not just noise. Vini describes it as finding the right friction, a moment where a brand can choose bravery over caution and truly stand apart.
He says: “Mischief means showing there’s life behind the logo. Not chaos, but conviction. The real risk isn’t trying something unproven. It’s doing nothing new and becoming forgettable.”
Rethinking the agency model
Forget about long agency hierarchies or hourly billing that strangles ambition, too. Natalie and Vini have built Mischief Maker’s model around outcomes, not hours spent. Their approach is rooted in ambition-led scoping, bringing in trusted collaborators only when the brief demands it.
“We scope based on ambition, not timesheets (sorry, procurement),” Vini adds with a wry smile. “Sometimes it’s just our team. Sometimes, we pull in additional collaborators who share our mindset. It’s lean and focused, with lots of client collaboration. No filler. Just real partnership with a bias for impact.”
That focus on lean, senior-led creative is a direct reaction to their agency backgrounds, where climbing the ladder often pulled talented leaders away from the craft. “We’re both senior enough to know better – but bold enough to make it happen,” Vini reflects.
“Too often in this industry, the further you rise, the further you drift from the work. We didn’t want that. Not just because we love it, but because staying close benefits everyone, especially younger talent.”
Natalie shares that sentiment, highlighting the importance of visibility. For Mischief Maker, keeping senior talent engaged is as much about mentorship as it is about quality. Post-pandemic restructures have left many juniors without daily exposure to creative leadership, a gap that Mischief Maker aims to actively address.
Balancing craft and conviction
Of course, you might wonder how mischief balances with the meticulous craft that great branding requires. Vini sees it as a creative tension that can spark results. “Mischief shakes things up. Maker makes it stick,” he says. “One brings the imagination, the other delivers the craft. Mischief is how we push ideas further, but always with clear intention, not chaos. Coherence matters. Detail matters. We don’t separate strategy from execution – we fuse them.”
It’s a philosophy both founders have refined after years of working inside larger agencies. While grateful for those experiences, they are clear-eyed about what they left behind.
“Big agencies taught us a lot, and we’ll forever be thankful to them,” Vini says. “But they also taught us what we want to avoid: politics, a pyramid structure, spending all day in meetings, turning down creatively brilliant projects because they didn’t ‘fit the model.’ We wanted to build something leaner and sharper where ambition doesn’t get slowed down by process. Where great ideas always win. And where honesty is met with respect.”
Escaping design sameness
The stakes for brands today couldn’t be higher. In a world saturated with “meh” design, standing out is more important than ever. “There’s a lot of sameness in brand design right now,” Vini observes. “A lot of people are pulling from the same sources most of the time. Pinterest, we’re looking at you,” he jokes. That endless scroll of familiar references can quickly become a creative trap.
Instead, Natalie and Vini encourage their teams and their clients to look beyond the screen. “Take a stroll down Cecil Court near Covent Garden,” says Vini, “and you’ll find secondhand bookshops full of forgotten gems – stamps, music scores, typography, old packaging. That’s the kind of reference you won’t serendipitously find online.”
This principle of fresh, sometimes unexpected inspiration feeds directly into Mischief Maker’s process. Early ideas start with sketches, not polished digital mocks, keeping the focus on thinking rather than surface styling. “That’s what keeps the work from falling into pattern,” Vini explains.
Built for brave brands
Strategically, Natalie stresses the value of clear boundaries. Mischief Maker is upfront about what it will not do, which helps shape stronger briefs and avoid brand dilution. Honesty is also key in relationships with clients. “Our best clients are visionary, gutsy, and don’t want to be wallpaper,” Vini says. “They know their brand matters, but also that it could matter more. We help them shake things up with intention and turn ambition into action. If you’re trying to fit in, we’re probably not your people.”
Encouraging bravery is baked into their model, but not for show. Mischief Maker aims to build long-term partnerships that empower clients to make bolder moves with confidence. “Bravery is an overused word, but for us, it’s simply the courage to try something unproven,” Vini explains. “We support that by showing both sides: the upside of boldness and the cost of staying still. We bring optimism, but we also bring honesty. If a decision’s going to dilute the work or defeat the purpose, we’ll say so.”
The road ahead
Looking ahead, Natalie and Vini are clear-eyed about their ambitions. The studio wants to grow a team that challenges its thinking and pushes creativity, strategy, and culture further with every new project.
“We want to build a team that doesn’t just share our values — they stretch them,” Vini says. There are even plans to open a workshop to produce Mischief Maker’s own outputs, physically embodying their creative philosophy. “Big dreams – but that’s the joy of going your own way!”
It’s a joy but also a challenge. Mischief Maker enters a branding landscape where words like “disruptive” are too often used as hollow slogans and where standing apart can quickly become a surface-level exercise. Natalie and Vini know the real test will be keeping the work intentional, impactful, and rooted in craft.
If they can hold onto that balance, Mischief Maker is well-placed to live up to its name. By fusing strategic thinking with imaginative mischief and refusing to compromise on the quality of the craft, they might just help brands remember what it feels like to truly matter again.
For those who feel branding has grown too safe, too predictable, or too lifeless, Mischief Maker could be exactly the jolt the industry needs. After all, a bit of mischief – done with conviction – might be the only way to make branding bold again.