Branding Questionnaire Template (Malta)
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 Maltese intake form should ask that a generic one does not — whether the identity has to work in Maltese as well as English, which trade mark register matters, and whether the client actually 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:
- Registration and VAT number:
- Main contact and role:
- Stage of business:
- Markets served:
What the business actually sells:
2. Language and Bilingual Scope
- Languages the identity must work in:
- Name checked for meaning in Maltese:
- Bilingual packaging or signage needed:
3. Audience
- Buys today:
- Should buy tomorrow:
- Influences the purchase:
- Deliberately not for:
4. Positioning
The promise, in one sentence:
Why anyone should believe it:
- Words to own:
- Words and claims to avoid:
5. Competitors and References
- Competes with:
- Brands admired, and why:
- Must not be mistaken for:
- Tried and rejected before:
6. Visual Direction and Constraints
- Existing assets:
- Colour notes:
- Tone of voice:
- Smallest use:
- Toughest application:
Digital accessibility or contrast requirements constraining the palette:
7. Deliverables and Practicalities
- Deliverables required:
- Formats and systems:
- Launch or deadline:
- Budget range:
- Spend already committed:
8. 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. Any transfer of rights has to be recorded in writing, and moral rights are not transferred. Nothing here transfers any rights.
9. 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.
Bilingual by design
Maltese and English are both official languages, and which one a brand leads in is a positioning decision as much as a practical one. A wordmark that works in English may read differently in Maltese; a tagline rarely survives translation intact; and packaging frequently has to carry both, which competes for the same space.
So this questionnaire asks up front which languages the identity must work in, whether the name has been checked for meaning in Maltese, and whether packaging or signage needs to be bilingual. Answering that at intake changes the shape of the identity; discovering it at artwork stage changes the budget.
Trade marks: national or EU
If naming is in scope, clearance belongs in intake. A mark can be registered nationally through the Industrial Property Registrations Directorate or protected across the whole EU — including Malta — as an EU trade mark. Which route the client needs depends on where they trade, and a name that is free in Malta may collide with an EU right that covers Malta anyway.
The questionnaire asks what searching has been done and on which register, plus domains, handles and the markets and languages the name must work in. It is a prompt to obtain a proper clearance search, not a substitute for one — and it also asks about the company register, because registering a company name is not the same as holding trade mark rights.
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. If Maltese-language materials are in scope, check the licence covers the characters you need.
Outputs: copyright stays with the creator unless the agreement records a transfer, and moral rights are not transferred at all. The questionnaire asks what the client expects to own and when, so the services contract can record the transfer properly — usually taking effect on final payment — and can deal with the editing and attribution expectations that moral rights leave open.
What each section covers
- Business basics
- Trading and registered name, registration and VAT numbers, what the business sells and where.
- Language and bilingual scope
- Which languages the identity must work in, and whether packaging or signage must be bilingual.
- Audience
- Who buys, who influences the purchase, and who the brand is deliberately not for.
- 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, on which register, and which markets and languages matter.
- 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 Maltese 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, and check character coverage if Maltese-language materials are in scope.
Record the transfer of design ownership in the contract
Copyright stays with the creator unless the agreement records a transfer, and moral rights are not transferred. If the client is to own the identity, the services contract needs to say so in writing and deal with editing and attribution separately.
Copyright Act (Cap. 415)Search the right trade mark register
A mark may be registered nationally through the Industrial Property Registrations Directorate or protected EU-wide as an EU trade mark, which covers Malta. Search both where the client trades beyond Malta.
Commerce Department — Industrial Property Registrations DirectorateDo not treat company registration as a trade mark right
Registering a company name is not the same as holding trade mark rights and does not prevent a registered owner from objecting. Both registers need checking.
Settle the language question at intake
Maltese and English are both official languages, and bilingual packaging and signage constrain layout and copy. Decide the language scope before the identity is designed.
Ask about mandatory label content early
EU labelling rules apply to many product categories and the required content has to fit. Surface it at intake so packaging is designed around it.
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 language question. Confirm which languages the identity must work in and whether packaging or signage must be bilingual.
- 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 is the language question so important in Malta?
Because it changes design decisions, not just copy. Maltese and English are both official languages, so which one the brand leads in is a positioning choice; a wordmark can read differently in each; taglines rarely translate intact; and bilingual packaging competes for the same space. Answering it at intake is cheap, and discovering it at artwork stage is not.
Which trade mark register should we search?
It depends on where the client trades. A national registration through the Industrial Property Registrations Directorate covers Malta; an EU trade mark covers the whole EU including Malta. A name that looks free on the national register can still collide with an EU right that covers Malta anyway, so search both where the client's market extends beyond the islands.
Who owns the logo when the project is finished?
The designer, unless the services agreement records a transfer — paying the invoice does not move copyright by itself, and moral rights are not transferred at all. The questionnaire asks what the client expects so the contract can record the transfer properly and deal with editing and attribution separately.
Does registering a company protect the brand?
No. A company registration is not a trade mark and gives no right to use the name as a brand against a registered owner. The registers are separate and both need checking, which is why the questionnaire asks about both.
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, moral rights, revisions, termination and liability. Attach the completed questionnaire so both documents describe the same project.
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 Maltese-language materials are in scope, check the licence includes the characters you will need.
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Disclaimer
This questionnaire and guide are general information about Maltese and EU 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.
