QR CODES ON ID CARDS & BADGES
Give the QR code
a useful job.
A QR code can make a link or a short text value easy to scan. Start by deciding what the scanner should actually do.
Choose the destination first
A useful destination might be your organisation’s public contact page or a public membership-information page. Use a stable URL you control. A plain text identifier can work when the receiving workflow knows how to interpret it.
A printed QR is visible to anyone holding or photographing the card. Avoid placing private addresses, passwords, access tokens or unnecessary personal details in the payload.
Keep the design scan-friendly
Use clear dark modules on a light background. Preserve the empty border around the code and avoid stretching, decorative overlays or placing it across a cut or hole-punch area. Longer payloads generally produce denser codes.
There is no single reliable minimum printed size for every payload, camera and material. Start large enough to scan comfortably and test the actual output at the intended size. DENSO WAVE’s QR code creation guidance explains module size and the required surrounding margin.
Test the finished card
Scan the exported output, then the physical print with the devices people will use. Check the exact resulting URL or text, not just whether the camera detects a code. Test under realistic lighting and after any lamination.
Our print samples contain synthetic text payloads that match their printed numbers. Download the sample PDFs for your own print and scan checks. No physical scan compatibility is claimed for them.
Understand the limit of a static code
A static QR code does not confirm that a person is who they say they are, that membership is active, or that a card has not been copied. A link can lead to a separately maintained system, but that system needs its own authentication, authorisation and privacy design.
IDCardCo’s Android preview encodes static text or links. It does not supply a hosted identity-verification, access-control or card-revocation service.