How to put a QR code on your business card

To put a QR code on a business card, first decide what the scan should do. A vCard QR code stores your contact details in the pattern itself, so one scan offers to save you straight into the phone's contacts, with no internet needed. A link QR code opens a profile page, such as your website or LinkedIn, which you can update at any time. Print the code about 2.5 cm (1 in) wide on the back of a standard 85 x 55 mm card, and test a printed proof on an iPhone and an Android phone before you order.

vCard or a link to a profile page?

Both work well. They suit different people and different kinds of card.

A vCard is the better default for most people. The point of a business card is to end up in someone's contacts, and a vCard gets there in one step. Nobody has to hunt for a save button on a web page or type your number in by hand.

A link makes more sense when your details change often, or when the page does more to sell you than a contact entry could. A designer might link to a portfolio, a consultant to a booking page. If you take this route, put a clear save-contact option near the top of the page. For a professional profile, the LinkedIn QR code generator makes a code that opens it directly.

Which fields should a vCard QR code include?

Include only what someone needs to contact you again, and leave out the rest. Every field you add makes the code denser and the modules smaller.

• Name. First name and surname, each in its own box, so the phone files you correctly.
• Job title and company. These help people remember where they met you and why.
• Mobile number. Write it in international format, such as +44 7700 900123, so it dials correctly from any country.
• Email address. One work address is enough.
• Website. A single short address. Your homepage or a profile page beats a long deep link.
• Address. Only if people visit you. A full postal address adds a lot of characters for little benefit.

Leave out photos, long notes and second or third phone numbers. A photo in particular can make the data far too large for a code that fits on a card. Social profiles are better reached through your website than squeezed into the vCard.

To see why this matters, compare sizes. A short web address produces a code around 29 modules wide. A vCard with name, title, company, mobile, email and website runs to roughly 200 characters, which needs a grid of around 57 modules. Printed at 2.5 cm, each of those modules is less than half a millimetre across.

Which vCard version should you use?

Use vCard 3.0, the version phone scanners handle most consistently. A vCard is plain text with one field per line, and three versions are in common use: 2.1, 3.0 and 4.0. Version 3.0 is defined in RFC 2426. The iPhone camera, Android camera apps and most scanner apps read it.

Version 4.0 is newer, but support in phone scanners is less even, and it adds nothing a business card needs. The vCard QR code generator on EndureQR writes vCard 3.0 for this reason.

A compact vCard 3.0 for a business card looks like this, one line at a time:

• BEGIN:VCARD and END:VCARD mark the start and the end.
• VERSION:3.0 tells the phone which format to expect.
• N:Morgan;Alex is the structured name, surname first, then first name.
• FN:Alex Morgan is the name as it should be displayed.
• ORG:Example Studio and TITLE:Creative Director add the company and role.
• TEL;TYPE=CELL:+447700900123 is the mobile number.
• EMAIL:alex@example.com and URL:https://example.com add the email address and website.

A generator writes all of this for you. If you build the text by hand, two details cause most problems. The N field must hold the surname before the first name, or the phone saves you back to front. And accented letters or non-Latin scripts, while fine on recent phones, should be tested, because some older scanner apps mishandle them.

How big should a QR code be on a business card?

About 2 to 3 cm (0.8 to 1.2 in) wide, depending on what the code holds. The standard UK and European business card is 85 x 55 mm. The common US size is 3.5 x 2 in, about 89 x 51 mm. Either way space is tight.

• Short link: about 2 to 2.5 cm (0.8 to 1 in) wide is enough.
• vCard: about 2.5 to 3 cm (1 to 1.2 in) wide, because the grid is much finer.
• Quiet zone: keep a clear, light margin of 4 modules on every side, free of text and lines.
• Safe area: keep the code and its margin a few millimetres inside the trim line, so the cutting never clips it.

The back of the card is usually the best place. It leaves the front clean for your name and logo, and the code can sit at a generous size on its own. If it has to go on the front, put it in a corner opposite the logo, at the same size.

Print quality and logos

Print quality matters as much as size. Use dark modules on white or very light stock, send your printer an SVG or PDF, and keep foil, embossing, spot gloss and heavy texture away from the code. Matte finishes scan more reliably than gloss. The QR code size guide explains the numbers behind these sizes.

A small logo in the centre is fine. Uploading one switches EndureQR codes to error correction level H, so the code still reads with the centre covered. On a dense vCard, though, every module counts, so keep the logo small or leave it out. Our guide to error correction levels explains the trade-off.

Test on iPhone and Android contacts

Test a printed proof, not the design on your screen. A code that scans from a monitor can fail at 2.5 cm on real card stock.

1. Scan with the camera on an iPhone. Tap the banner that appears to open a contact preview, then save it as a new contact.
2. Scan with the camera on an Android phone, ideally two different brands. Depending on the camera app, you will see an option to add a contact or a card showing the details.
3. Open the saved contact and check every field: name in the right order, job title, company, phone, email and website.
4. Tap the phone number and the email address to check they start a call and a new message.
5. Tap the website and check the page loads properly on a phone.
6. Scan from the distance people hold a card, about 15 to 25 cm, in ordinary indoor light.

The wording on screen changes between phone software versions, so do not worry if the buttons look slightly different. What matters is that the contact saves with every field in the right place.

Tell people what the code does

A bare square on a card can look like decoration. Add a few words beside it, such as "Scan to save my contact" or "Scan for my portfolio", so people know what will happen. A frame with a short label does this neatly. Keep your name, number and email printed on the card as well. Some people prefer to type details by hand, and a card that relies only on a code fails the moment a phone will not scan.

The free QR code generator makes vCard and link codes with frames, colours and logos, and downloads PNG, SVG, JPEG or PDF with no sign-up and no watermark.