A business card is 3.5 × 2 inches in the US and 85 × 55 mm in most of Europe, and a QR code for a business card has to earn its corner of that space. Its job is simple: the person you just met scans it, and your details land in their contacts, spelled correctly, before the card disappears into a drawer.
This page is about getting the code onto the card: what it should hold, how big to print it, which file the printer needs and which finishes make it unreadable. The code is free, needs no account and never expires.
From contact details to a printed card
Fill in only what belongs on the card
In the Business card tab, enter your name, company, job title, one phone number and one email. Skip the street address unless clients actually visit you.
Scan the preview with two phones
Check the name order and that the number is in international format, such as +1 415 555 0132, so it dials correctly from anywhere.
Download the SVG for the printer
SVG is a vector file, so the designer can place it at the exact width without blur. Never send a screenshot.
Keep it inside the safe area, then proof
Place the code at least 3 mm inside the trim line so the blade cannot clip it, and scan a printed proof before approving the run.
What a business card QR code should hold
A code can do one thing, so choose what the card is for.
Your contact (vCard)
The right default. The phone offers to add you as a contact, with no page to load and nothing to tap through.
Your LinkedIn profile
Better for recruiters, consultants and job seekers whose next step is a connection online. You can also put the profile link in the vCard's website field and keep one code.
Your website
Right for a shop or studio where the card works as an advert and the portfolio sells.
Designing a business card with a QR code
Front or back is the first decision. The back gives the code room and keeps the front clean; the front says the card is meant to be scanned. Either way, add a short label such as Save my contact.
Keep the code dark on a light background. Brand colors work when the contrast is strong, and MakeQR warns you before download when it is not.
Foil and metallic ink
Reflects light into the camera, so the code vanishes at some angles. Foil the logo if you like, but print the code in flat ink.
Spot UV and heavy texture
Gloss varnish over the code causes glare, and linen or felt stock breaks up small modules. Keep the code on plain, smooth ground.
What the code on the card contains
A vCard 3.0 contact in plain text, one line per field. The phone reads it offline, so the card keeps working even if MakeQR disappears. Every field adds modules; a lean card like this one prints well at 2 cm.
BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
N:Alvarez;Maria;;;
FN:Maria Alvarez
ORG:Alvarez Design
TEL;TYPE=CELL:+14155550132
EMAIL:maria@alvarez.design
END:VCARDSize and position on a standard card
Cards are read at arm's length or closer, about 20–30 cm, so 2 cm (0.8 inch) is the practical minimum and 2.5 cm is more comfortable. A code centered on the back at 2.5 cm, with the label underneath, is the layout printers handle most easily. Leave blank card at least four modules wide on every side.
Print it at least 20 mm (2.0 cm) wide
Business card QR code mistakes that cost a reprint
Too many fields for the size
Two phone numbers, a full address and a long title can double the density. At 2 cm that code works on some phones and not others.
Sending a screenshot to the printer
Screenshots are low resolution and compressed, so module edges blur on paper. Send the SVG.
A local phone format
A number without the country code saves fine but fails when the contact is used from abroad. Start with + and the country code.
Should a business card code be dynamic?
A vCard is static by nature: the details are in the pattern, so they save even with no signal, but they cannot change after printing. That is usually fine, since you reprint cards when your title or number changes anyway.
For a code that survives a job change, point a dynamic code at a page you control, such as your profile on your company site, and change its destination later. That needs a free account; two dynamic codes are free forever.
How dynamic QR codes workCards that put the code to work
- A real estate agent prints a vCard code on the back so buyers save her mobile before they leave the viewing.
- A freelance photographer's card opens his portfolio site instead of a contact.
- A sales team makes one LinkedIn code per person from a spreadsheet of profile links with the bulk generator.