# QR codes for museums and galleries

> Museum QR codes belong on object labels, pointing at extended interpretation, audio and accessibility content. The design constraint is gallery lighting — deliberately low and often raking — which is the worst possible condition for scanning.

Source: https://useqr.app/qr-codes-for/museums · Last reviewed 2026-08-21 · UseQR is free forever, MIT licensed, no signup.

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## Gallery lighting is the problem

Galleries are lit low to protect works, often with directional spots. That gives you two
failures at once: too little light for a phone camera, and raking light that throws shadows
across a textured label.

Mitigations:

- **Matt, smooth label stock** — texture plus raking light is the worst combination.
- **High contrast**: pure black on pure white, no house colours on object labels.
- **Larger than you think**: 3–5 cm at a 40–60 cm reading distance, because low light
  forces the camera into longer exposures and motion blur.
- **Position out of the direct spot** so the label is not a bright specular patch.

## What to link

Extended interpretation is the obvious use, but the highest-value one is **accessibility**:

- Audio description for visitors with low vision.
- BSL or sign-language video.
- Easy-read versions of the label text.
- Transcripts for anything with audio.

A code that gives a visitor the label read aloud is worth more than one linking to a curator
essay.

## Do not replace the label

The QR code supplements the physical label. Object identification, date, medium and
attribution stay printed. A visitor without a phone must still get the basics.

## Offline

Gallery basements have no signal. Either provide WiFi with a
[WiFi code](/wifi-qr-code) at the entrance, or ensure linked pages are light and cacheable.

## Permanence

Exhibitions change; permanent collections do not. Point object codes at a stable object
record in your collection database, not at an exhibition microsite that will be taken down.

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