QR code business card: what the code should carry, and how to make it scan
A QR code on a business card can carry a link or the contact itself, and which one you print changes what happens when a camera reads it. Here is the difference, what fits in a code, and how to make one that scans on paper and on a screen.
Two kinds of code
A link QR holds a web address, and the camera opens a page. A vCard QR holds the contact record itself (name, phone, email and more) in the vCard format phones have understood for a long time; the camera offers Save contact straight away, with no page and no network. OvniCard gives you both: the link QR opens your live card with your photo and intro, the contact QR saves you even with no signal.
What fits in a code
A QR code grows denser as it carries more data. A short link makes a small, coarse code that scans from far away; a full vCard with an address and a note makes a fine one that needs a closer, steadier read. Photos and logos do not fit at all, which is why an OvniCard vCard QR carries text only, and your photo stays on your device and on your live card.
Making it scan on paper
- Keep the quiet zone: the blank margin the QR standard requires around the code. Artwork that crowds it breaks the read.
- Dark modules on a light background. Inverted and low-contrast codes fail on many cameras.
- Size it for the reading distance: a card in the hand is read up close, a booth banner from a step back.
- Error correction lets a scanner recover a partly damaged code, but a logo dropped over the middle spends that margin. Test the printed proof with a real phone before the run.
Where a code earns its place
On the back of a paper card, so the card you hand out saves itself. On a phone lock screen, for the moment someone says show me. In an email signature as an image, next to the plain link for people who read on a desktop. On a booth sign or a shop window, where a tap is impossible and a link cannot be typed.
Making yours
OvniCard draws both codes on your phone from the details you type; nothing is uploaded to make them, and the code that assembles on this site's home page is a real one that opens ovnicard.com. Type the card once, and the link QR and the contact QR are ready to show, save as an image, or send to the printer.
Frequently asked questions
Which code should go on my paper card?
The contact QR if you want a one-step save that works with no signal; the link QR if you want them to see the full card with your photo. Many people print the contact QR and write the plain link under it.
Does a QR code expire?
No. A vCard QR is the data itself and never changes. A link QR keeps working as long as the link does, and your OvniCard link carries the card inside it, so there is no account to lapse.
Can any camera read it?
Every recent iPhone and Android camera app reads QR codes on its own; an older phone can use any QR reader app.
Make your card
The web app works today in any browser. The iPhone app is coming to the App Store; no badge or link appears here until it is live.