Flyers · How it works

How do QR codes on flyers work?

A QR code on a flyer is a printed square pattern that stores a web address or a short piece of text. A phone camera reads the pattern and offers to open what it holds. It works when the code is printed large enough for the scanning distance, has a clear margin around it, and points somewhere worth visiting.

The code itself costs nothing and never wears out, so almost every failure is a printing or planning mistake. Size, margin and destination decide whether a passer-by actually lands on the page.

Indunil Asanka · Co-founder

5 min read · Published 13 September 2026

QR code width by scanning distance, using the common 10 to 1 rule of thumb
Where it is read	Typical distance	Minimum code width
Flyer held in the hand	25 to 30 cm	2.5 to 3 cm
Flyer on a counter or noticeboard	50 cm	5 cm
A4 notice on a wall, read from a step back	1 m	10 cm
Poster in a shop window	2 m	20 cm
Large poster across a room	3 m	30 cm

1
Pick one destination
Point the code at the single page that does what the flyer promises, such as the booking form or the event page, not the home page. Keep the address short, because every extra character adds modules and makes the pattern denser.
2
Decide between static and dynamic
A static code stores the final address and can never change after printing. A dynamic code stores a short redirect address from a service, so the destination can be edited and scans counted, for as long as that service stays active.
3
Size it for the distance
Make the code at least one tenth as wide as the distance people will stand from it. That is a rule of thumb rather than a standard, so a dense code or a dim location needs more room than the ratio suggests.
4
Leave the quiet zone
Keep a plain margin four modules wide on every side of the code, with no text, border or photograph running into it. Without that margin many cameras cannot find where the symbol starts.
5
Label it and test it on paper
Add a short line saying what scanning does, such as Scan to book. Then print a proof at the final size and scan it with two different phones from the distance a real reader would stand.

What the pattern actually holds

Denso Wave developed the QR Code in 1994 for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, and the design that ended up on flyers is the same one. The grid is made of small dark and light squares called modules. Three larger squares in the corners let a camera find the symbol and work out its angle, and built in error correction lets a partly scuffed code still read. The Model 2 symbol in common use today runs from a 21 by 21 module grid up to 177 by 177. The more characters you encode, the more modules the grid needs, which is why a long tracking address produces a busy pattern that has to be printed larger to scan reliably.

Static and dynamic codes

A static code is simply the address itself turned into a pattern. It is free to make, it works forever, and it tells you nothing about who scanned it unless the address carries campaign parameters that show up in your web analytics. A dynamic code encodes a short link belonging to a redirect service, which then forwards the phone to the real page. That lets you fix a typo after ten thousand flyers are printed, or send a later print run to a new offer, and the service usually counts scans. The cost is dependence: if the subscription lapses or the service closes, every printed code stops working at once.

Size, distance and the margin

The ten to one ratio in the table is the rule most printers and designers work from: a code one tenth as wide as the scanning distance. It is not written into the QR Code standard, and it assumes decent light and a code of modest density. What the Denso Wave reference pages do specify is the quiet zone, a clear border four modules wide on all four sides. They also show how small a single module can go on a good printer, 0.254 millimetres at 400 dots per inch, which is a limit for machine reading on a production line, not a size a person in a car park will manage with a phone. For a handout, 2.5 centimetres is a sensible floor. For anything on a wall, measure where people actually stand, whether that is a queue, a bus shelter bench or the far side of a corridor, and size from that distance rather than from the page.

Mistakes that stop the scan

The most common failure is a code with no reason attached. An unlabelled pattern in the corner of a flyer gets ignored, while one line of text beside it gets it scanned. Next is placement: codes on the bottom edge of a handout sit under the reader's thumb, and codes on a fold crease across the modules. Gloss lamination throws glare straight back at the camera. Low contrast brand colours, pale codes on dark backgrounds and photographs running into the margin all cut scan rates. Finally, a code on a social post is close to useless, because the person reading it is already holding the phone that would need to scan it.

Where a QR slot exists in the flyer builder

In the flyer builder a QR code lives in a QR slot, and only the designs that ship with one can carry a code. There is no QR tile in the Add items panel, so a design without the slot cannot gain one; picking a design that has it is the whole decision. In a design that does, you type the link or text to encode, or upload a QR image made somewhere else. Because the slot encodes exactly what you type, static or dynamic is decided by the address: paste a redirect link from a dynamic service and the printed code becomes dynamic. PNG and JPG exports capture at twice the canvas, so an A4 page leaves as 2480 by 3508 pixels, which is A4 at 300 DPI. Test the exported file on paper, not on the screen you designed it on.

Questions people ask

Do QR codes on flyers expire?

A static code never expires, because the address is stored in the pattern itself and needs no server. The page it points to can still disappear, so keep that address alive for as long as flyers are in circulation. A dynamic code keeps working only while the redirect service does, which usually means while the subscription is paid.

Can I put a logo in the middle of a QR code?

Often yes, because error correction lets a code survive some missing modules. The higher the correction level, the more can be covered, but the pattern also becomes denser. A small logo that covers well under a fifth of the symbol and avoids the three corner squares usually scans. Test every version on paper before printing a run.

What colours can a QR code be?

Dark modules on a light background with strong contrast is the safe arrangement. Many brand colours are fine as long as the dark parts are genuinely dark. Light codes on dark backgrounds, gradients across the modules and pastel shades on white are where scan rates fall. When in doubt, print a test and scan it under ordinary indoor lighting.

How can I count scans without a paid service?

Add campaign parameters to the web address before generating the code, naming the flyer and the place it was handed out. Visits from that address then appear as their own campaign in your web analytics. This counts page visits rather than raw scans, which is usually the number that matters anyway, since a scan that never loads the page achieved nothing.

Should I print the web address as well as the code?

Yes, if it is short enough to type. Some readers will not scan, some phones struggle in poor light, and a flyer kept on a fridge may be acted on days later from a laptop. A short, readable address below the code covers all of those people and costs one line of space.

Can a QR code open something other than a web page?

It can hold a phone number, a text message, an email address, a calendar event or Wi-Fi login details, and most phone cameras recognise these formats. For a flyer, a web page is usually still the better choice, because it can be updated, it can carry more detail than the flyer, and it gives you a visit to measure.

Make one with flyers

The button opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match your own.

Create a flyer with OneCraft

Sources

Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked 13 September 2026.