Surface guide
QR codes on product packaging
Packaging QR codes need 2–3 cm and error correction Q, because packaging is curved, creased, laminated and handled. The harder problem is permanence: the code outlives the campaign, so it must point at a URL you will still control in five years.
| Typical scan distance | 20–30 cm |
|---|---|
| Minimum code width | 2–3 cm |
| Error correction | Q |
Permanence is the real design constraint
A poster lives six weeks. A tin of paint lives ten years in a shed. Every URL decision should assume the longer horizon:
- Point at a stable path on your own domain, never a campaign URL you will delete.
- Never use a third-party shortener. When it dies, every unit already in the world dies with it.
- Keep a permanent redirect for that path in your infrastructure documentation, so nobody removes it during a site rebuild in 2031.
Curvature and creases
On a cylinder, keep the code within about a third of the circumference. Never place it across a crease, a glue flap or a perforation. Keep 5 mm clear of any fold.
Substrate and varnish
- Uncoated board spreads ink — keep the payload short so modules stay large.
- Matt varnish over the code; gloss and spot UV reflect.
- On metallised board, print a white flood under the code. Metallic substrates have no reliable luminance contrast.
- Corrugated flute direction affects fine detail; run modules across the flutes, not along.
Where regulation is going
GS1 Digital Link lets one code serve both the till and the consumer, carrying GTIN, batch and expiry in the URL path. The retail Sunrise 2027 migration and the EU Digital Product Passport are both pushing packaging toward exactly this. If you are redesigning packaging now, encode a Digital Link rather than a bare URL.