QR code on posters from the street

A QR code on posters is sized for the pavement, not for the laptop. Start from the closest a person will stand, then print several times the 2 cm arm-length floor if that stand is across an aisle. Watch gloss. Send SVG. Do not plate a screenshot of the preview.

QR code on posters read from the pavement, not the desk

You are about to replace a desk proof with a distance measurement. This is the wrong job for an A5 handout (see flyers) and the wrong job for a van (see wraps). A one-night indoor A3 whose URL will never change and will never be counted is a Canva job.

Retail marketing shopfronts mix glass, night lighting, and walking speed. A website or dynamic code lets you retarget without reprinting a 1.5 m sheet. The print still depends on the host resolving.

Billboard width is a trap. Size is set by the closest a scanner will stand, not by the panel. A 2 cm mark on a 6 m board is invisible from the road.

Construction hoardings are billboards with more dirt. Site dust fills modules in a week. H correction plus a reprint clause in the hire contract is cheaper than arguing with a phone that "used to work." If the hoarding is read from a bus lane, treat it as neighbouring-lane work, not as a shop poster.

Backlit posters in bus shelters bloom. The light box turns light modules into glare. A denser dark, a larger mark, and a test at night with the box on are required. A daytime photo of the unlit shelter is not a scan test.

Size the poster code for the closest standing distance

1. Stand where a guest actually stops. Tape the distance. That number, not the artboard, sets millimetres.
2. Scale up from 2 cm at 30 cm. Pavement poster distance is usually metres. Grow the symbol until a phone at that spot locks on.
3. Place it at roll-up chest height if the piece is a banner stand. Footer placement is a common miss on trade-stand roll-ups.
4. Export SVG or a vector PDF of the symbol. If the shop insists on raster, 300 dpi at the placed size, not a 400 px thumbnail.
5. On gloss sheets, plan for gloss poster glare under downlighters. Matte the symbol or test at night.
6. On coroplast outdoor board, foamboard, or yard panels, use error correction H and expect scuff. Outdoor UV chalks; plan a reprint.
7. Print a small section at true size, tape it at the real height, and scan from the pavement. Then run the poster.

A logo on a street-read mark must stay small relative to the square. Distance already taxes the camera. Do not add a second tax.

How large should a shopfront poster code be

Large enough that a phone on the pavement resolves modules, not large enough to match the headline for composition. If people scan through glass, treat it as a window decal problem too: the interior scene can wreck a transparent mark. First-surface, white-backed symbols beat inside-face prints read through tint.

Low light and motion fail more often than the wrong app. A handheld scan from a moving pavement is a distance problem first.

Do outdoor boards need extra error correction

H restores about 30 percent of the symbol and densifies the grid. On a coroplast outdoor board that flexes in wind and scuffs in transit, you want that recovery, and you still want size for the viewing distance. L looks airy and dies at the first crease.

Foamboard in a shop window is closer to indoor lighting plus flex. Same H habit. Same true-size tape-up.

Poster proofs that lie

The proof was held at 30 cm. The file was a screenshot. The symbol sat in the footer of a roll-up. Gloss flared. The hosted URL was the preview path. UV chalked after a season and nobody scheduled ink.

A hosted poster that must survive a vendor shutdown should not have been hosted. Encode static if permanence without us is the requirement. We will say that even though it costs a subscription. If the hire company reprints your artwork at a new site without asking, they may scale the whole poster down. The headline still fits; the code does not. Write a minimum millimetre on the artwork as a non-printing note.

How indoor lighting differs from a night shopfront

Museum boards under spots behave like gloss tables: a bright blob sits on the modules. Matte the symbol or move it off the speckle of the spotlight. Underground stations add motion. People scan while walking. Distance plus blur. Larger modules, higher contrast, chest height.

A-frame boards on the pavement flex like cheap coroplast. Hinge the frame so the face stays closer to planar. A warped A-frame is a curve problem borrowed from packaging.

If the poster is wheatpasted, paste can soak uncoated stock and spread ink after hanging. Size up, or use a coated sheet, or accept that wheatpaste campaigns are disposable and host the URL so the destination can outlive the paper.

Trade-stand roll-ups share lighting with the hall. Aisle distance is two to four metres. The 2 cm floor is not enough. Chest-to-head height, not the footer, still applies when the stand is in a dark corner of a barn. If the stand is next to a rival stand with its own code, you have a two-tents problem at two metres. Angle the roll-up so one camera frame cannot hold both.

When a static Canva poster is enough

Indoor, one night, URL frozen, no counts: generate a static file and print. SmartQRCode has no unpaid plan. $1.99 is for destinations you will still edit. A jumble-sale A3 does not need us.

Tape the true-size patch to the wall. Scan from the street. Then print the sheet. If the poster is one of a pair flanking a door, keep them far enough apart that a camera on the threshold cannot hold both.