How to Create a QR Code: A Practical Step-by-Step Guide

QR Codes Aren't Going Anywhere

Remember when people said QR codes were dead? That aged well. Today they're on restaurant menus, product packaging, event tickets, real estate signs, and just about every conference badge you'll ever wear.

The real question isn't whether QR codes work. It's whether you're making ones that work well. A lot of QR codes in the wild are poorly designed, untracked, and point to pages that weren't built for mobile. Let's fix that.

Quick Primer: What's Inside a QR Code

A QR (Quick Response) code is a two-dimensional barcode that stores data, usually a URL, in a grid of black and white squares. Your phone's camera reads the pattern, decodes the data, and opens the link.

A QR code can hold several thousand characters. But for marketing purposes, you'll almost always encode a single URL. That's where things get interesting, because the URL you choose to encode determines everything else: whether you can track scans, change the destination later, or customize the experience.

Static vs. Dynamic: The Decision That Matters Most

Before you create a single QR code, you need to understand this distinction. It'll save you headaches down the road.

Static QR codes encode the destination URL directly into the pattern. The URL is baked in. If you want to change where the code points, you need to generate a new code entirely. There's no tracking, no analytics, no flexibility. For a Wi-Fi password or a vCard, static is fine. For marketing, not so much.

Dynamic QR codes encode a short link that redirects to your destination. The QR pattern stays the same, but you can change the destination URL whenever you want. Every scan is tracked. You can A/B test the destination. You can update a campaign without reprinting a single poster.

Use dynamic QR codes for marketing materials. Every time.

Making Your First QR Code, Step by Step

Let's walk through the process of creating a QR code in Acturity.

Step 1: Create your short link

Every QR code in Acturity encodes a short link. Start by creating a link to the page you want people to land on. Give it a descriptive slug, something like go.example.com/lunch-menu or go.example.com/spring-event, because the slug can double as an address people type by hand if they can't scan.

Step 2: Generate the QR code

Once your link exists, open its QR code window. Acturity's QR code generator builds the code from your short link, so every scan is recorded as soon as the code is out in the world.

Step 3: Customize the design

This is where most people stop too early. A plain black-and-white QR code works, but a branded one looks like it belongs to you. These are the options.

• Change colors. Pick one of six color presets, or enter any color of your own for the code and its background. Make sure there's enough contrast with the background, because a dark code on a light background scans best.
• Add your logo. Upload a PNG, JPEG or WebP file of up to 2 MB and Acturity places it in the middle of the code. You don't choose the logo size. It's chosen for you so the code keeps scanning, and error correction is raised to its highest level automatically. This works because the code contains redundant data, so part of it can be covered without breaking.
• Adjust error correction. The four levels, L, M, Q and H, trade pattern density for resilience. Higher levels survive damage and smudges better. A lower level keeps the pattern simpler if the code will be printed small and clean. For a code that will live outdoors, on packaging or anywhere it can get scuffed, choose Q or H.
• Pick the size and the margin. There are four sizes, from 256 to 2048 pixels, and four margin settings, from none to large. Keep a clear margin around the code on print, because scanners need empty space to find the edges.

Step 4: Download in the right format

Choose your export format based on where the code will live.

• PNG for digital use, such as social media, email and websites
• SVG for print, where your account includes it, because it scales to any size without pixelation

If you hand the file to a print vendor, send the SVG. If your account only offers PNG, download the largest size available and send that.

Step 5: Test before you publish

Scan it. Scan it with multiple phones. Scan it at the size it'll actually be printed. Scan it in the lighting conditions where it'll be displayed. This step takes thirty seconds and prevents embarrassing failures.

Where to Use QR Codes

Here are the spots where QR codes earn their place.

Product packaging. Link to setup instructions, recipe ideas, or warranty registration. A QR code on the box that opens the exact page a buyer needs saves them a search.

Event materials. Conference badges, event posters, table tents. Link to schedules, speaker bios, or feedback surveys. Track scans with analytics to see which sessions drew the most interest.

Business cards. A QR code that links to your bio page or portfolio. Use an Acturity link-in-bio page so visitors see all your important links in one place.

Print ads and direct mail. Include a QR code in your magazine ad or postcard, and you can see how many people engaged with a print campaign. That's data print never gave you before.

Retail and point of sale. Link to loyalty programs, review pages, or exclusive offers. Position the code where people are already standing still, such as checkout counters, fitting rooms and waiting areas.

Mistakes That Kill Scan Rates

These are the errors you'll see everywhere once you start looking for them.

Not enough contrast

A dark gray QR code on a medium gray background? Good luck scanning that. You need strong contrast, and dark on light is the standard for a reason. If you want to use brand colors, test them.

Printing too small

A common rule of thumb is no smaller than 2 cm by 2 cm for close-up scanning. For a poster viewed from a few feet away, go to at least 10 cm by 10 cm. The further the viewer, the larger the code needs to be.

Putting it where nobody can scan it

Placement decides whether the code gets used. Put it at eye level for people who are standing, and within arm's reach for people who are seated. Avoid curved or shiny surfaces, which bend the pattern or throw glare at the camera. And think about signal. A code in a basement, a lift or on a plane leads to a page that won't load, so people give up. If the place has poor reception, say so in your call to action or move the code.

No call to action

A QR code sitting by itself is a mystery box. "Scan for 20% off," "View the menu," "Get the full schedule." A short line of text next to the code tells people why they should bother.

Linking to a non-mobile page

Someone scans your QR code and lands on a desktop-only page with tiny text and horizontal scrolling. They bounce immediately. Every QR code destination must be mobile-friendly.

Using static codes for marketing

If you can't track scans or update the destination, you're leaving value on the table. Dynamic codes, backed by trackable short links, are the right choice for marketing.

Tracking Your QR Code Performance

Once your codes are in the wild, Acturity can record QR scans separately from ordinary clicks. It tells them apart by the tracking values that the UTM attribution switch in the QR window adds to the code's address, and that switch is on by default. With it on, the analytics overview shows how much of your traffic came from QR scans and how much from direct clicks. Each scan carries the usual details.

• Location. Which countries your scans come from, and where available the region and city
• Device. Mobile, desktop or tablet, plus the operating system and browser, which tells you about your audience (iPhone or Android, for example)
• Time. When people scan most, which helps with campaign timing

Use this data to compare placements. Say a QR code on a product insert gets three times the scans of one on a shelf talker. That tells you something about where people are willing to scan. If scans spike on weekends, schedule your campaigns around that. Our guide to QR code tracking goes through how to read scan data.

For deeper campaign tracking, pair your QR code links with UTM parameters so the traffic flows cleanly into your web analytics tool alongside everything else. Acturity can add tracking parameters to the code's address for you. In the QR window you can turn on UTM attribution, which marks visits as coming from a scan, and optionally give it a campaign name. Leave this switch on. It is also how Acturity tells a scan from a typed or clicked visit, and with it off, scans are counted as ordinary clicks. Its tracking values reach your web analytics only when the destination and the link's campaign set no UTM value under the same names. If they do, theirs win, and Acturity still counts the visit as a scan.

Getting Started

Creating a QR code in Acturity is quick. Creating a good one, branded, trackable, properly sized and with a clear call to action, takes a little more care, and the difference shows in the results.

Start with Acturity's QR code generator. Create a short link, generate the code, customize it with your brand colors and logo, and test it before you print. From there, check your analytics and compare placements.

Every QR code you put into the world is a chance to learn something about your audience. Make sure you're capturing that data.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do QR codes expire?

Static QR codes don't expire, because the data is encoded directly in the image. A dynamic QR code works for as long as the short link behind it exists and has no expiry date. If you delete the link, or give it an expiry date that passes, the code stops sending people to your page. For anything you print, leave the expiry date empty and keep the link.

Can I change where a QR code points after printing it?

Yes, if it's a dynamic QR code. Since the QR pattern encodes a short link and not the final destination, you can update the destination URL anytime without regenerating the code. This is why dynamic codes are essential for anything you print.

What's the best size for a printed QR code?

It depends on scanning distance. For something people hold in their hand, such as a business card or a product label, 2 cm by 2 cm is a common minimum. For a poster or sign viewed from a few feet away, 10 cm by 10 cm or larger. When in doubt, go bigger. Nobody ever complained that a QR code was too easy to scan.

Does adding a logo make the QR code harder to scan?

It can, if it's too big. QR codes have built-in error correction that lets them stay scannable when part of the pattern is covered. In Acturity the logo size is chosen for you, so the code keeps scanning, and error correction is set to its highest level automatically. Test the finished code anyway, on the phones your audience uses.

Are QR codes free to create?

Many tools offer free static QR codes. In Acturity, every QR code encodes a short link, so it's always the trackable, editable kind. How many you can create is set by your account's limits.