Help with QR codes?

I am updating a business card and my client wants a QR code to link to her website. My questions are:

  1. what is a good software program to use to get one for her? (Free preferred)
  2. she wants to link it to her website but she also has info in FB and LinkedIn. Is there a QR code that can encompass all three?

I’d really appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks!
Kate

You can make those in InDesign, I’ve used it. All three of those are just web links… so yeah

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In addition to InDesign, here’s a site that will make them for you. They’re free.

That wouldn’t make any sense. If the QR code is intended to link to a website, it’s not really possible to link to three different sites simultaneously. I suppose it might be possible to link to a script that would open three different browser windows, but that would be weird and very annoying for the user.

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I got mad at Adobe and cancelled most of their software except for PhotoShop. But thank you.

Thank you. That is what I was looking for and confirmation that I just need a link to her website.
Kate

I left Adobe too (for the most part) and I am happy with iQR ‎iQR codes - QR Code Art Studio im Mac App Store
CMYK-PDFs exportet with iQR aren’t always CMYK but colors can be changed quickly (e.g. in Affinity Publisher or Designer)

Sometime later, but I hope this helps someone.

There are two types of QR generators. The ones that offer you some services, like traffic tracking, analytics, etc. But the way they work is that they do not link to your webpage, they link to their webpage and then re-send the traffic to your intended webpage. But they will charge you monthly. The problem is that if you spend $$ in this case making your business cards, you are now stuck forever with the service. Do not do that.

Then there are the QR generators that really generate a QR directly for your URL. Sometimes they generate an ugly and simple QR, but works.

One website that generates it is webqr.com. If you find another website that makes a better-looking QR, use webqr to test the generated QR, it should read the intended URL and not the maker of the QR.

If you want a free program to download and generate your QR offline getsharex.com and under the tools tab you can generate them.


And no. One QR can only have one string of text, let’s say your webpage. Imagine that you could open a browser tab and type 3 different URLs at the same time. You can not.

The behavior you need could be programmed into the webpage with some “on load” event and open one new tab or something. But it is a bad idea. You do not want a webpage to start poping windows without your own action.

You could put two big icons on that landing page.

To accomplish the same thing without a fee, I’ve sometimes headed the QR code link to a blank page on the website that contains a script or a meta refresh that immediately redirects to the final destination on the same server.

This might add a small fraction of a second to access the destination page, but it probably won’t be noticed. To see how many people used the QR code, you’d simply need to check the server logs, Google Analytics, etc., to see how many hits there were to the never-seen intermediate page.

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Yes.
This can be useful for example to a general landing-receiving page, and then redirect to the “promo of the month” or something. This way you can have an archive of “promo of the month” webpages and have a permanently useful QR.

P.S. I tested the site you posted, qrcode-monkey and if you do not have the “Statistics and Editability” on, the encoded URL is the original. :slight_smile: nice.

Joe commented about CMYK.

I would say that QR code readers are more forgiving than linear commercial barcodes. A linear barcode to be used to read the ID on a grocery store should be in the K channel only (or have a really good registration on different channels and inks) but a QR can even have some misaligning.
This means that if the QR is changed from RGB to CMYK giving some rich black combination of inks for example, it still will be ok.

QR codes are built with some redundancy. I’ve read that up to 30 percent of some QR codes can be missing or illegible and that they will still work. I’ve never tested it, though. I doubt the readers see colors — probably just grays. In other words, darker colors work just fine. I’d stay away from lighter colors, though.

When I use QR codes, I keep them as basic as possible and 100%K. Decorating them only draws attention to their unattractiveness — a little like putting lipstick on a pig. If one is needed, it’s usually better to place it in an unobtrusive spot and just let it be.

yes QR code - Wikipedia

would love to see some qr codes like these barcodes though

image
image

:thinking:

image
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IMG_7726

I guess the big difference is that qr codes are directed to customers and barcodes aren’t

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I know this is an old post, but I want to share some insights on QR codes. I’m a engineer who noticed the QR codes that our designers create are kind of boring, so I did a deep dive into how QR codes work. Here’s what I’ve learnt:

  • As @Just-B said, QR codes have redundancy which allows large parts of the code to be altered, yet still be scannable, which is how QR codes with logos work. It’s approximately 30%, but it depends on what settings the QR code has been built with, and certain areas can’t be changed. I’d suggest using a tool that has adds the logo itself, rather than trying to customise an existing QR code, as the tool should generate a code that will be scannable.

  • A lot of knowledge you find online about QR codes is outdated, as it’s based on when they first became popular ~2010. The CPU power in phones has increased a lot since then, so they are much easier to scan. Coloured QR codes and even non-white backgrounds are not an issue now, so you can really get creative with them! However you need to remember that it needs to be recognisable as a QR code for users, so the traditional dark-on-white is the best option.

  • QR codes contain a single URL, which when scanned opens the browser. The way services work that allow you to edit the URL later (called “dynamic” QR codes) is they have a URL on their website, which redirects to your website. The disadvantage is that most of them stop working when you stop paying. You can achieve the same result by using an URL shortener service, and using that URL for the QR code. Some of them even give you analytics which may be a requirement of the client.

  • Some services let you build a website that is a menu with links to different services, so when you scan the QR code, it takes you to that which would do what you ask. It’s basically just a webpage with large buttons, so you could use any website builder to build something similar.

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