At a conference poster session, people have about 30 seconds and a phone. A QR code turns a passing glance into a lasting connection, if it's big enough, well placed, and points somewhere useful.
What to link to
| Good | Avoid |
|---|---|
| Project or paper landing page | Huge PDFs |
| Preprint on a mobile-friendly site | Your homepage with no context |
| Short demo video | Links that might break |
| Contact page or LinkedIn | Shortened links from services that may disappear |
Use a URL you control (e.g. yoursite.com/poster-2027) so you can update where it points later. For Vayu-style project work, I link to a dedicated case-study page like this one.
Size and distance
A practical rule of thumb: scan distance ≈ 10 × code width.
| Where | Distance | Code width |
|---|---|---|
| Poster | ~1 m | ~10 cm |
| Poster, viewed close | ~50 cm | ~5 cm |
| CV / business card | ~20–30 cm | ~2–3 cm |
Design tips
- High contrast: dark code on a light background.
- Quiet zone: leave white margin around the code.
- Error correction: higher levels tolerate printing flaws and small logos.
- Label it: "Scan for the full paper" tells people why to scan.
- Placement: near the title or conclusions on a poster; header or footer on a CV.
Test before printing
- Print at actual size on normal paper.
- Scan with two different phones from the expected distance.
- Check the link works on mobile data, not just Wi-Fi.
Generate codes with my QR Code Generator.