You’re looking forward to creating a QR Code for your use case. It could be for a promotional use case. For example advertisements on flyers, brochures, or any other marketing creative. Or it could also be an operational use case such as inventory management.
Hence, you’re actively looking at various alternatives to get the job done. But here’s the thing—you want to create a personalized QR Code.
Now, this could mean two things. First, you want to personalize it by adding the content of your choice. Or second, it could mean that you want to customize the design of the QR Code.
Therefore, in this article, we’ll see how you can create a personalized QR Code keeping in mind both scenarios.
A. Personalized QR Code: Explained in minutes
As we discussed earlier, there are two ways to personalize a QR Code. Let’s discuss both of them in detail here:
1. Adding custom content to the QR Code
You’ve seen barcodes in action. They store numbers and alphabets. But that’s pretty much it. They don’t store data beyond that.
On the other hand, a QR Code can store any form of data. It could be text, weblinks, numbers, images, videos, documents, etc.
Hence, depending on your use case, a QR Code can help you customize the content as per your wish. Here are some examples of the different QR Codes based on the type of content:
a. Text QR Code: As the name suggests, it helps you add text. It could be as alphabets, numbers, special characters, etc. And depending on whether you want it to be editable or not, it could be static or dynamic
Static QR Codes are not editable and store a limited amount of data (7,089 characters). On the contrary, Dynamic QR Codes are editable and can store as much information as needed
b. Website URL QR Code: It helps you encode weblink. When scanned, it takes the end-users to the encoded website
c. Image QR Code: This content category helps you add up to 20 images in a single QR Code. You could use it to share your photography portfolio, designs, or even infographics. As people scan the QR Code, they see all the images as a gallery on their phones
d. Audio QR Code: Just like an Image QR Code, this one lets you share up to 20 audio files. Many music artists, voice-over artists, and authors (for audiobooks) use it
e. Document QR Code: This is one of the most popular content categories out there. It helps you share multiple document files. These could include Word Docs, PDFs, Spreadsheets, etc. Your end-users can access all the files with a simple scan. No need for you to spend on printing all the documents anymore
f. Product QR Code: This is most commonly used by product manufacturers and marketers. Why? Because it helps them share all the product details that they couldn’t add to the packaging. For example, descriptions, images, recipe videos, user manual documents, etc.
When scanned, it takes the end-users to a mobile-optimized landing page where they can see all the details.
g. Custom Page QR Code: This comes in handy when you want to share digital content but don’t have a website. It helps you create a landing page of your own within minutes. No need to hire a developer for the same
You can customize the landing page as you want. It allows you to add multimedia, text, weblinks, social sharing buttons, etc.
h. Google Maps QR Code: Do you have a brick-and-mortar store? Then you’d want people to visit it. And Google Maps QR Code makes it easier for them to do so
When scanned, it shows the encoded location on the end-user’s maps application. No need to find the location manually or ask anyone for directions. Hence, this is commonly used by businesses and event organizers to share business or venue locations.
There are over 25 content categories of QR Codes. So, if you have a use case, there will already be a dedicated QR Code category to take care of it.
2. Adding custom design to the QR Code
The second way to create a personalized QR Code is by adding a design to it. There are two ways in which you can do it:
a. Using colors and a logo
You can add your brand colors to the QR Code. In addition, you can even customize the pattern of its elements. Here are the elements that allow you to do both:
- QR Code’s eyes (both inner and outer)
- Data modules
In addition, you can even add a logo to the centre of the QR Code. It could be either an image or text.
Plus, this design alternative also allows you to change the background color. Just make sure there is high contrast between the background color and the QR Code.
If one of them is dark, the other should be light and vice-versa. This helps maintain the QR Code’s scannability.
b. Using an image as the background
As the name suggests, this alternative allows you to use an image as the QR Code’s background. You can position the QR Code on the image as you want. In addition, you can also change the pattern of its eyes and data modules.
However, the custom-background design doesn’t let you change the color of the QR Code. This is done to ensure high scannability.
Since you now know two ways a QR Code can be personalized, let’s see how to create one:
B. How to create a personalized QR Code
The first step is to find a suitable QR Code generator. You can pick one depending on the content category and design capabilities you need.
Using Scanova for a demo, here’s how you can proceed:
1. Go to Scanova and select a QR Code category of your choice
2. Add the content to be encoded in the QR Code and proceed
3. On the page that loads, name the QR Code and click Create
4. Then you’ll see all the QR Code details on the screen and a QR Code on the right. Under the QR Code, you’ll see the Edit Design option. Click on it to add design to the QR Code
You’ll then see two design options as described in the previous section—Custom Logo Design and Custom Background Design. You can select the one of your choice.
Here’s a detailed guide on how you can customize the QR Code using both options in detail.
5. After finalizing the design, Update it and click on Download
6. You’ll then be asked to sign-up for a free trial. Note that you’ll not have to give any card details while signing-up
7. Once done, click download. You’ll see a window asking you to specify the format and size of the QR Code image to be downloaded. Specify the details and click Export
That’s it. Your QR Code will be downloaded. If you’re still reading, you know everything about a personalized QR Code. Just make sure you test scan the QR Code before putting it out for your audience to scan.
You can now go ahead and create one of your own in no time.