QR codes on posters

Size it for the distance

A phone camera can read a QR code from about ten times its width. Turn that around and you have the rule for posters: measure how far away people will stand, divide by ten, and that's your minimum code size.

• 1 m away, like a poster beside a counter: 10 cm (4 in)
• 2 m away, like a wall poster across a hallway: 20 cm (8 in)
• 3 m away, like a poster behind a barrier or on a stage backdrop: 30 cm (12 in)

Those are minimums for a simple code. A long URL makes a denser pattern, so keep the link short or print larger. The size and printing guide covers density in more detail.

Download SVG for posters. It scales to any size without blurring, while a 2048 px PNG starts to go soft on an A1 print.

Hang it where phones can reach

Mount the code at eye height, roughly 1.2 to 1.6 m (4 to 5 ft) off the ground. Too high and people tilt the phone up at an angle that skews the pattern. Too low and they have to crouch, which most won't do.

On a tall poster, the headline belongs at the top and the code belongs in the part that ends up at eye height, usually the lower middle. Give it a clear margin and a short label beside it: Scan for tickets, Scan for the full schedule.

Outdoors: glare and weather

Outdoor posters fight the sun. Glossy laminate and plastic display cases throw reflections across the code, and the camera sees a white smear instead of a pattern. A matte finish or a non-glare case helps more than anything else.

• Print high contrast: a near-black pattern on white. Muted colors only get weaker after a few weeks in the sun.
• Use outdoor-rated inks or vinyl for anything that stays up for months. Sunlight fades ink, and a washed-out code stops scanning.
• Set error correction to Q or H in the generator. The higher level lets a code survive rain spots, a staple or a torn corner.
• Check the code again after the first week of bad weather, and keep a spare print ready.

Keep the destination fast

A poster scan happens standing up, often on mobile data, with one eye on the street. The page has to load quickly and show the thing the poster promised on the first screen. A heavy home page with a cookie banner and a slideshow loses people before it finishes loading.

Send them straight to the ticket page, the event details or the sign-up form with a website QR code and a short, specific URL. For a lost-pet or community notice, a phone QR code that dials directly can be faster still.

Test it where it hangs

Print a test at full size, tape it up in the real spot, and scan it from where people will stand, at the time of day they'll see it. Try one iPhone and one Android phone. If it scans from the curb in afternoon sun, order the run.