QR codes on product packaging and labels

A QR code on packaging is the least forgiving place you can print one. The run is 50,000 units, the label is 40 mm wide, the surface curves, the varnish reflects and the code has to still work three years from now — long after the campaign it pointed at has ended. Every decision below has to be made before the press runs, because there is no second chance.

Rule one: on packaging, the code must be dynamic

A static code freezes the destination into the ink. With packaging that is a liability: the landing page moves, the campaign ends, the product gets a new manual, the promotion expires, and you are left with pallets pointing at a 404.

Size: the hard limit on a small label

Packaging is scanned close up — 15 to 25 cm, a phone held over a shelf or a kitchen counter. That sounds easy, but the limit on packaging is not distance, it is how small each module can be printed and still survive ink spread.

Use the <a href="/tools/qr-code-size-calculator">size calculator</a> with the exact destination you will encode: a long URL packs in more modules, each module gets smaller at the same printed width, and that is what fails on a flexo press. If the calculator asks for more width than the label has, shorten the destination — do not shrink the code.

Curved surfaces: bottles, tubes, cans

• Keep the whole code within a flat-looking band: as a rule, no more than a third of the visible curve. On a 60 mm diameter bottle that means about 25 mm of usable width.
• Orient the code so the curve runs across it, not diagonally — a diagonal wrap distorts the alignment squares first.
• On tubes and sachets, place the code on the flat sealed face or the flat panel, never across a crimp or a fold.
• Add width before you add error correction: a bigger code on a curve beats a dense high-correction code squeezed into the same space.
• Never let a seam, a shrink-sleeve overlap or a tamper strip cross the code.

Print process, material and colour

• Dark code on a light background, always. An inverted code (light on dark) is read by fewer phones and wastes a print run.
• One flat colour, no gradient, no photo behind the code. Keep contrast strong — mid-grey on beige fails under warm store lighting.
• Reserve a clear margin of four module widths around the code and keep all text, seams and die-cut lines out of it.
• Ask for a matte or spot-matte varnish over the code area; gloss reflects the phone's own screen.
• Never let the code be a spot varnish, an emboss or a foil — a code has to be ink, with real contrast.

Regulated panels and what to keep in print

A QR code can extend the information on a pack, but in most regulated categories it cannot replace what has to be printed. Food, cosmetics, toys, electricals and supplements each have mandatory printed content in the EU; a link is an addition, not a substitute.

• Keep mandatory statements printed: ingredients, allergens, net quantity, durability, business address, warnings.
• Use the code for what print cannot carry: full manuals, multi-language versions, videos, recycling details, batch traceability.
• Label the code with what it leads to — "Scan for the full manual" converts far better than a bare code.
• Check your category's own rules before removing anything from the artwork; requirements differ by product and market.

Before you sign off the artwork

1. Export vector (SVG or PDF), never a raster image — the printer scales the artwork, and a PNG turns into soft edges.
2. Scan the printer's physical proof, on the real material, under the real varnish. A PDF on screen proves nothing.
3. Test on the shelf conditions: store lighting, the pack in hand, and one worn or creased sample.
4. Try both an iPhone and an Android, and one older phone with a scratched lens.
5. Confirm the destination works on mobile data, loads in under three seconds and is not a desktop-only page.
6. Write down the short link somewhere internal, so whoever owns the product in two years knows which code to repoint.