QR code campaign checklist

A QR code campaign checklist is a pre-press gate, not a mood board. Encoding class on the brief, 302 so later edits land, pause versus archive before go-live, and a control-card before the run catch the failures that look like "QR is dead" after 5,000 copies. Confirm every tick with a test scan of the real stock.

A QR code campaign checklist before you send files to press

If you cannot say whether the payload is hosted or static, stop. Event badges that must change a PDF after print need a hop. A one-night door sign that will never be counted needs a Canva one-off.

Write the standing distance. Write the destination for day one and day thirty. If those days differ, hosted is not optional. Wi-Fi, if present, is a second object with a reprint rule.

Download SVG, PNG, JPG, or PDF. Do not plate the preview that encodes /qr-preview.

Walk the checklist in print order

1. Circle the type: website or landing-page hop, or static Wi-Fi, or a true one-off URL file.
2. Paste the live destination into a browser. Repair 404s before you generate.
3. If you need counts or edits, create the hosted or tracked code. Put UTM on that destination, not in static modules.
4. Export vector or 300 dpi at final millimetres. Quiet zone inside trim. Dark modules on a light patch.
5. Print a proof. Scan with iOS Camera and Android Camera from the real distance.
6. Label a control card with the short code and drop it in a drawer.
7. Write the end-of-flight rule: pause (hop stops) versus archive (still scans) versus collect static cards.
8. If two designs must be compared, create two hops. One static URL is not a test.
9. Brief staff that two codes in one camera frame return one payload.

Miss step 5 and the RIP will teach you in public. Miss step 7 and a seasonal cling will outlive the offer.

Confirm 302 so later edits still land

Scan redirects in this product are 302. A 301 would cache the destination and freeze edits. If the campaign reused an old agency short link, test a fresh phone. Mixed 301 history is a checklist item, not a surprise.

Hosted resolution remains the trade. The checklist cannot abolish invoices. A code that must survive with no provider has to be static.

Confirm: change the destination on the control card's row, wait a moment, scan the control card. The new page should load. If the old page loads, you have cache or the wrong row.

Confirm pause versus archive before go-live

Pause is a separate state. User-archived codes keep scanning. Dynamic campaigns that "end Friday" need pause on Friday, not archive on Friday.

Wi-Fi has no pause. The checklist line is "collect cards" or "reprint."

Confirm: pause a spare, scan it, see a paused page, resume, scan again. Do this once per operator before the event, not during doors.

Failure modes the checklist is meant to catch

Screenshot plated. 12 mm icon on a roll-up. Navy on navy. Logo on a finder. UTM baked into static modules. Preview path in ink. One short URL for two cities. Staff scanning both A/B arms. Thermal receipts too faint. Two tent cards in one photo.

Each has a row above. If a failure still ships, the row was skipped, not "QR."

What to put on the press ticket besides the PDF

Encoding class on the brief should be a checkbox the printer never sees and the marketer cannot skip: hosted hop, static URL, or Wi-Fi. 302 so later edits land is a marketer checkbox. Pause versus archive before go-live is an operator checkbox. Control-card before the run is a warehouse checkbox. If one role owns all four, the event still ships with a screenshot plated.

Write the standing distance in millimetres on the ticket the printer does see. Write "quiet zone inside trim, no type on the pattern, dark modules on a light patch." Those sentences prevent the three print failures that waste the rest of the list.

If the event is a one-night door sign, the ticket is shorter: Canva or iOS static, 2 cm or larger, test-scan, bin tomorrow. Do not run the hosted list as theatre.

The on-screen preview is not live. If anyone attached a screenshot to the ticket, reject the ticket. The preview encodes /qr-preview. Download PNG, JPG, SVG, or PDF and attach that. Confirm by scanning the attached file on screen at final millimetres; if it opens a preview path, the ticket is still wrong.

List the two phones you will use for the proof scan, by model. A single newest iPhone hides density problems. Add one older Android. If only the iPhone banners, the millimetres are marginal. Enlarge before you book the press slot.

Walk encoding class, destination health, file format, millimetres, quiet zone, contrast, UTM layer, pause versus archive, and the control-card scan in that order. Skipping contrast to "save time" is how navy-on-navy ships. Skipping 302 so later edits land is how a CDN 301 freezes week one. Skipping pause versus archive before go-live is how a Friday "end" keeps selling on Saturday. Print the list on the warehouse wall. Tick it in ink. The on-screen preview is still not live. /qr-preview in a scan is a failed ticket. Download the real PNG, JPG, SVG, or PDF. Two phones on the proof. Older Android included. If only the newest iPhone banners, enlarge. Wi-Fi, if present, is a separate static line with a reprint rule. It is not a redirect, not trackable, and not a pause toggle.

Name the person who will pause on Friday and the person who will scan the control card after that pause. If they are the same tired volunteer, schedule a backup. Confirm the paused page on Saturday morning before you tell the client the flight ended. Archive will not give you that Saturday silence.

When the checklist collapses to a Canva export

No edits. No counts. No pause theatre. High contrast, 2 cm or larger at table distance, test-scan, done. A free static generator is the right tool.

When any later Tuesday might change the page, keep the full hosted list, keep the control card, and run the pause drill. Test-scan after every destination save.