Branding Questionnaire Template (Gibraltar)

Updated on 22 August 2026

A branding questionnaire is the intake document a designer, agency or freelancer sends before starting work on a brand. Its job is to turn a vague brief into decisions: who the business serves, what it wants to be known for, who it competes with, what it must not look like, what the deliverables are and who signs off. A good one prevents most of the revision rounds that destroy the margin on brand projects.

The source template has strong demand and a strange problem: the page never shows the questions. Its copy explains which builder widgets the form uses, its own PDF link is broken, and the whole description was pasted into the meta description at nearly a thousand characters. This version publishes the full question set and adds the three things a Gibraltar intake form should ask that a generic one does not — where the audience actually is, which trade mark registers matter, and whether the client holds the rights to the fonts and images they are handing over.

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Branding Questionnaire

Completed by for on . The answers here become the agreed brief for the project. Where you do not know an answer, say so rather than guessing — an honest gap is more useful than a placeholder.

1. Business Basics

Trading name:
Registered company name:
Company number:
Business licence:
Main contact and role:
Stage of business:

What the business actually sells:

2. Audience and Languages

Where the customers are:
Languages the identity must work in:
Buys today:
Should buy tomorrow:
Deliberately not for:

3. Positioning

The promise, in one sentence:

Why anyone should believe it:

Words to own:
Words and claims to avoid:

4. Competitors and References

Competes with:
Brands admired, and why:
Must not be mistaken for:
Tried and rejected before:

5. Visual Direction and Constraints

Existing assets:
Colour notes:
Tone of voice:
Smallest use:
Toughest application:

OptionalDigital accessibility requirementsInclude contrast and digital-standards questions.

Digital accessibility or contrast requirements constraining the palette:

OptionalNaming projectInclude the naming and clearance questions.

OptionalRebrandInclude the questions a rebrand needs and a new brand does not.

OptionalPackaging in scopeInclude pack formats and mandatory label content.

6. Deliverables and Practicalities

Deliverables required:
Formats and systems:
Launch or deadline:
Budget range:
Spend already committed:

7. Rights and Materials

Font licences held:
Image and illustration licences:
What the client expects to own:

Ownership of the finished design is dealt with in the services agreement, not in this questionnaire, and any transfer of copyright has to be in writing and signed. Nothing here transfers any rights.

8. Approvals

Signs off:
Revision rounds included:
Others who must see the work:

Anything else we should know:

Completed for the client by

Date:

Questions that produce decisions

Clients answer "what feeling should the brand have?" with words that mean nothing to a design decision. The useful questions are comparative and exclusionary: which three brands in any industry do you admire and why; which competitor must you not be mistaken for; what has been tried and rejected; where will the logo be smallest.

This questionnaire is organised to end in decisions — business and audience, positioning and competitors, visual direction and constraints, deliverables and practicalities, and approvals. The approvals section matters more than it looks: a project with three unnamed decision-makers is a project with unlimited revisions.

Which audience, and which side of the frontier

A Gibraltar brand almost always serves more than one audience: residents, cross-frontier workers and shoppers, UK visitors and expatriates, and in many sectors an entirely international client base that never sets foot here. Those audiences read a wordmark differently, and one of them may need Spanish.

So this questionnaire asks where the customers actually are and which languages the identity has to work in, before anyone starts designing. It also asks about the trading environment: businesses licensed here often display licence details, and duty-free and bonded retail have their own labelling conventions, which affect how much room a mark has on a pack.

Trade marks: two registers to think about

If naming is in scope, clearance belongs in intake. Gibraltar maintains its own trade mark register through Companies House Gibraltar, and rights here are not automatic from a UK or EU registration — while a business trading into Spain or the wider EU will also care about the EU register. That means a Gibraltar naming project can involve two or three clearance questions rather than one.

The questionnaire asks what searching has been done and where, plus domains and handles and the markets the name must work in. It is a prompt to obtain a proper clearance search, not a substitute for one.

Rights in the inputs and the outputs

Inputs first: does the client hold the rights to the photographs, fonts, illustrations and existing marks they are handing over? Font licences routinely separate desktop, web, app and logo use, and stock image licences often exclude use inside a mark. Asking for the licence terms is a five-minute question at intake and an expensive one after launch.

Outputs: Gibraltar follows the English model, so the designer owns copyright as author unless they are an employee, and a transfer must be in writing and signed. The questionnaire asks what the client expects to own and when, so the services contract can contain the right assignment — usually taking effect on final payment.

What each section covers

Business basics: Trading and registered name, company number, business licence, what the business sells and where.
Audience and location: Residents, cross-frontier, UK and international customers, and the languages the brand must work in.
Positioning: The one-sentence promise, the reason to believe it, and words to own and avoid.
Competitors and references: Who they compete with, who they admire, and who they must not resemble.
Visual direction and constraints: Existing assets, colours, tone, and the smallest and roughest applications.
Naming and clearance: Optional. What searching has been done and on which registers, plus domains and markets.
Rebrand specifics: Optional. Equity to preserve, stock and signage in use, and how the change is communicated.
Deliverables and practicalities: Deliverable list, launch date, budget range, committed spend and formats needed.
Rights and materials: Licences held in supplied assets, and what the client expects to own and when.
Approvals: Who decides, how many revision rounds are included and how sign-off is recorded.

Practical and legal points for Gibraltar brand projects

Check the client's licences for supplied material
Font licences commonly separate desktop, web, app and logo use, and stock image licences often exclude use within a trade mark. Ask for the licence terms rather than assuming.
Put the transfer of design ownership in the contract, in writing
Gibraltar follows the English model: the author is first owner and an assignment must be in writing signed by the assignor. If the client is to own the identity, the services contract needs that assignment.
Search the right registers before committing to a name
Gibraltar maintains its own trade mark register through Companies House Gibraltar and rights are not automatic from a UK or EU registration. A business trading into the EU will also need to consider the EU register.
Companies House Gibraltar — trade marks guidance
Do not treat company registration as a trade mark right
Registering a company here does not give trade mark rights or a right to use the name as a brand. Both need checking.
Confirm the business licence position
Carrying on business in Gibraltar requires a licence from the Office of Fair Trading, and licensed businesses often display those details on materials the designer will lay out.
Office of Fair Trading Gibraltar
Ask about languages early
If the brand serves cross-frontier or international customers, decide at intake whether the identity, taglines and packaging need to work in Spanish or other languages.
Agree contrast expectations for digital work
If the identity will be used in a website or app subject to accessibility standards, the palette has to work at the required contrast.

How to use this questionnaire

Send it before the kick-off call. Let the client answer in writing first so the call is spent on the interesting disagreements.
Turn on the sections you need. Switch on naming, rebrand, packaging or accessibility depending on the project.
Settle the audience and language question. Confirm where the customers are and which languages the identity has to work in.
Resolve rights and clearance. Check the client's licences in supplied assets and flag any unsearched name before design starts.
Confirm approvals. Get the named approver, the rounds included and the sign-off method agreed in writing.
Attach it to the contract. Download the DOCX or PDF and attach the completed questionnaire to your services agreement as the agreed brief.

Frequently asked questions

How long should a branding questionnaire be?

Long enough to reach decisions and short enough to be finished. Around forty questions, grouped so a client can answer a section at a time, is the practical range. This version uses optional sections so a logo-only project is not asked packaging and naming questions.

Why does the audience-location question matter so much here?

Because a Gibraltar business usually serves several distinct audiences at once — residents, cross-frontier workers and shoppers, UK visitors and, in many sectors, international clients who never visit. They read a wordmark differently and may need different languages. Deciding which of them the identity is built for is a design decision, not a marketing footnote.

Which trade mark register should we search?

Start with Gibraltar, because rights here are not automatic from a UK or EU registration and the local register is what a local dispute would turn on. If the client trades into Spain or the wider EU, the EU register matters too. A Gibraltar naming project can therefore involve two or three clearance questions, which is why the questionnaire asks what has been searched and where.

Who owns the logo when the project is finished?

Gibraltar follows the English position: the designer owns copyright as author unless they are an employee, and a transfer must be in writing and signed. Paying the invoice does not transfer it. The questionnaire asks what the client expects so the services contract can contain the right assignment, usually on final payment.

Does this questionnaire replace a design contract?

No. It is the brief, not the agreement. It captures what the client wants and what constrains it; the services contract covers fees, stages, ownership, revisions, termination and liability. Attach the completed questionnaire so both documents describe the same project.

What should I do if the client's chosen name looks risky?

Say so in writing and ask them to get a clearance search before you build the identity around it. You are not giving a legal opinion; you are flagging that a collision on the relevant register can force a rebrand after signage and packaging are printed.

What about fonts?

Ask for the licence every time. Font licences routinely distinguish desktop use from web, app and logo use, and a licence covering the client's office may not cover embedding in their product or using a glyph inside a mark. If Spanish-language materials are in scope, check the licence covers the accented characters too.

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Disclaimer

This questionnaire and guide are general information about Gibraltar practice, not legal, trade mark or accessibility advice, and nobody has reviewed your project. A clearance search and a written services agreement are separate steps this document only prompts.