Industry guide
QR codes for agencies and consultants
For an agency, QR codes are mostly a client deliverable rather than an internal tool. The value is knowing the rules well enough to stop a client printing 20,000 flyers with a 1 cm code across a fold.
The pre-press checklist
Before any client artwork goes to print:
- Scan the actual proof, not the screen. From the distance the audience will use.
- Check size against the ten-to-one rule — printed width at least the scanning distance divided by ten.
- Confirm the quiet zone is four modules on every side, and that nothing sits in it.
- Check the code is not across a fold, trim or perforation, with 8 mm clearance.
- Confirm matt finish, not gloss or spot UV.
- Confirm vector artwork — SVG or PDF, never an upscaled PNG.
- Check the destination resolves and is mobile-friendly, and that it will still resolve after the campaign.
- Verify contrast — luminance difference, not hue difference.
Our validator does the contrast and decode checks, and the size calculator does the distance arithmetic.
Client conversations worth having
- "Can we make it smaller?" — Only if the payload shrinks too. Offer to shorten the URL.
- "Can we make it our brand colour?" — Only if luminance contrast holds. Show them the validator output rather than arguing.
- "Can we put the logo in the middle?" — Yes, at error correction Q or H, up to about 20% coverage, and only if it still decodes. Verify, do not assume.
- "Can we change where it points later?" — Not with a static code. Point it at a redirect on the client's domain, which they control permanently.
Bulk work
Variable-data campaigns — unique coupon codes, per-store landing pages — are a bulk CSV job. Decode-verify the whole batch before it goes to press.