Print guide
A QR code that fails on paper failed at the proof stage.
Screens forgive. Print does not: viewing distance, ink spread, glare and bad lighting all arrive at once. Three numbers decide whether the code scans, and one check catches the rest.
How big, for how far
Measure the code itself, not the box around it. These are minimums for a clean print on a flat, matte surface.
Business card, flyer in hand
Read from 20–30 cm
Minimum 2–3 cm
Menu, packaging, shelf edge
Read from 30–50 cm
Minimum 3–5 cm
Poster at eye level
Read from 1–2 m
Minimum 10–20 cm
Yard sign, window decal
Read from 2–4 m
Minimum 20–40 cm
Billboard, building wrap
Read from 10 m and beyond
Minimum 1 m and up
The three rules
- 1 / 3
Size against distance
The working ratio is 10:1. Scanning distance should be no more than ten times the width of the code. Someone reading from one metre needs a code about 10 cm wide. Phone cameras, lighting and eyesight all vary, so when the number lands between two sizes, take the larger one.
- 2 / 3
Contrast, not color
The dark modules must be clearly darker than the light ones. Aim for a contrast ratio of at least 4:1 and treat 3:1 as the floor. A deep brand color on white or cream is safe. Two mid-tones together are not, and neither is a light pattern on a dark background: some readers handle inverted codes, plenty do not, and the ones that fail never tell you.
- 3 / 3
The quiet zone is part of the code
Leave a clear margin of about four modules on every side, roughly the width of one of the three large corner squares. No text, borders, ornaments or photographs inside it. If the code sits on a busy layout, put it in a plain light box and let the box be the quiet zone.
The check to run before the press
Six minutes here is the difference between a print run and a reprint.
- Print the piece at its final size, on the final stock. Not a screen, not a desktop proof of a poster.
- Scan it with several phones: old and new, iOS and Android, stock camera apps.
- Scan from the distance people will actually stand at, not from 15 cm.
- Try it under the lighting the piece will live in: shop lights, evening street, a dim restaurant.
- If the piece will be laminated or varnished, test it after finishing. Glare only appears at the end.
- Check where the code sits: not in a fold, not in a bleed, not behind a spiral binding.
One thing the rules cannot fix
A QR code is a grid of modules, and the more characters it encodes, the more modules it needs at the same printed size. A long tracking URL produces a fine-grained pattern that cheap printing blurs. No amount of sizing rescues it.
A QRMapper code encodes the same short link every time, whatever the destination behind it. Fewer characters, chunkier modules, more forgiving print. And because the destination is not in the ink, a wrong link is an edit rather than a reprint.
For press work, export SVG rather than PNG: vector scales to any size without resampling. Full detail lives in the print-readiness guide.
Print the pattern once. Change the destination for years.
Make a code, print it on plain paper, scan it, then change where it points and scan again. The free plan is enough to see the whole mechanic.
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