Free checklist
QR print checklist
18 checks that decide whether a printed QR code actually scans — run them before, during and after every print job.
This page is styled for paper too — printing it gives you the same one-sheet checklist.
1. Before design
Decisions that are expensive to reverse later.
2. Design
What decides whether a camera can read it.
3. Proof
One test print before the production run.
4. After print
A printed code is a maintained asset, not a one-off graphic.
Why a checklist
Most failed QR prints trace back to the same few causes: a code sized for the layout instead of the scan distance, a missing quiet zone, weak contrast, or a destination nobody tested after the ink dried. These 18 checks compress our size guide and print best practices into one page you can run before every job — five minutes here is far cheaper than reprinting a thousand posters.
The two numbers worth memorising
Minimum width ≈ farthest scan distance ÷ 10 — a code scanned from one metre away wants to be at least 10 cm across. And the quiet zone, the empty margin scanners use to find the code’s edges, should be at least four modules wide on every side. The size guide has a placement-by-placement table, from product labels to billboards.
Make mistakes reversible
Even a perfect print can point at a page that moves next season. A dynamic code keeps the printed pattern fixed while you edit where it leads, so a wrong link becomes a quick edit instead of a reprint — which is why the very first checkpoint is choosing the code type on purpose.
Print with a safety net
A dynamic QR code lets you fix the destination after printing — no reprint.