QR codes on flyers and posters

The size of the sheet does not decide the size of the code; the distance people stand from it does. The working rule is about 10:1 — a code read from 30 cm needs about 3 cm. The full method, including how link length changes the minimum, is in QR code size for printing. Applied to common formats:

Posters are where codes are most often too small. A 5 cm code that looked generous on the designer’s screen is a speck from two metres, and people will not walk up to a poster to find out what a code does. If the layout cannot give the code its size, the poster probably needs a different job than “scan this”.

Use the SVG for anything printed commercially, and for every poster. It stays sharp at any size; a PNG enlarged to 20 cm will not. See PNG vs SVG.

• Bottom right is the usual spot. Readers tend to finish there, after the headline and details have told them why to scan.
• Eye level on posters. A code at the top of a tall poster or near the floor is scanned at a steep angle, if at all. Aim for chest to eye height where the poster will actually hang.
• Never in a fold. On folded leaflets keep the code wholly within one panel. A crease through the modules is damage the code has to absorb.
• Well inside the trim. Codes too near the edge get clipped in finishing or covered by drawing pins and tape. Leave clearance beyond the quiet zone.
• On a plain background. Not over a photograph, a gradient, or a texture. Give the code and its white margin a flat, light area of their own. More on this in QR code colours.
• One code per piece. Two codes make people choose before they know what either does.

Think about where the poster goes, too. A window poster faces glare from outside; a code behind glass in sunlight can be unreadable at midday. A poster on a moving vehicle, high on a wall, or above a crowd may not be scannable at any size — print the URL large instead.

A bare square asks people to trust you with their camera without saying why. A short call to action beside it tells them what they will get, and that is usually what tips a glance into a scan.

• Say the outcome. “Scan for tickets”, “Scan to see the menu”, “Scan to book a viewing” — not just “Scan me”.
• Keep it short. Three to five words, set clearly next to the code, not tucked underneath in small type.
• Print the URL as well. A short, readable address under the code serves people whose camera fails, who are photographing the poster to act on later, or who simply prefer to type. It also shows where the code goes, which reassures the cautious — the reasons are in are QR codes safe?.

Link to a page that works on a phone and delivers exactly what the caption promised. A poster saying “Scan for tickets” that lands on a home page loses most of the people it convinced.

Codes from this site are static: the link is encoded directly in the pattern, so it never expires but also cannot be changed once printed. Two consequences follow. Use a URL you control and will keep alive for as long as the flyers are in circulation, and get it right before the print run — a typo is permanent. The trade-offs are covered in static vs dynamic QR codes.

To see how many people arrived from the print, give each campaign its own URL with UTM parameters, so the visits show up separately in your analytics. Keep one link per campaign or per placement if you want to compare them. How to set that up is in tracking QR code scans. Tracking parameters lengthen the link, so check the code is still a comfortable size afterwards.

1. Print one proof at final size, on the final paper.
2. Scan it from the real distance, in the real light, with at least two phones.
3. Check the page that opens is the one the caption promises, and that it works on mobile data.
4. Only then approve the full run.

For gigs, workshops, and conferences, the event QR code generator is set up for ticket and registration links.

Make a print-ready code for your flyer or poster:Generate a QR code