Transparent QR codes: PNG and SVG

Why transparent matters

A code exported on a white tile pushes a white rectangle into your layout, which resembles a sticker on a photograph. With transparency you set the code itself and let your own background hold it, which is the difference between a completed sign and an assembled one.

It also lets you put the code onto a photo — provided the area behind it stays plain and pale.

1. Pick the color first. Black for light backgrounds, white for dark. The accent color is for designs where black looks pasted on.
2. Choose PNG or SVG. PNG for a fast import into a document, SVG for print and for anything that scales.
3. Leave the margin. Keep a clear band surrounding the code of about 4 of its own squares. That's where most designs fail.

PNG or SVG

PNG is a grid of pixels: 2048 of them down each edge, which stays sharp up to A4 and begins to soften beyond it. SVG holds the shapes instead, so it prints the same at 5 cm and at 5 meters. Each design tool and each print shop takes both.

If somebody else is doing the layout, send the SVG and let them size it. If you're placing it into a document yourself, the PNG is less hassle.

If unsure, send both. Both encode the same link and cost nothing to keep.

Choosing the color

A camera reads contrast, not color. Black over cream, white over charcoal and a deep accent on pale paper all pass; a mid-tone accent on a mid-tone background doesn't, no matter how good it looks on screen. If you're unsure, print it and inspect it in the light the room will really have.

Never flip the pattern by hand — a light code on a dark field scans only if it was exported like that.

The clear margin is part of the code

A code needs a clear band around it, about 4 of its own small squares across. Without it a camera can't locate the edges, and the sign fails on precisely the phones you need it to work on. Our sign templates ship with this band; a design you build yourself must leave room for it.

If a self-designed sign won't scan, check this first.

What else breaks a placed code

Stretching it out of square, rounding its corners, placing a logo in the middle, or laying it over a cluttered photograph. All 4 seem deliberate and all 4 lose you scans. The code is artwork with a task; treat the pattern itself as off-limits and style everything around it.

Scaling proportionally is always OK. Nothing else you do to the pattern is.

Check the placed version, not the file

Once the code rests in your design, export the entire sign and scan that. The file you downloaded was OK; the question is whether your layout kept it like that. Do this at the size you will print, not magnified in on a screen.

A borrowed phone is the right test device, since it also confirms the link goes where you think it does.