QR Codes on Vehicles

Parked, not moving

Design entirely for the parked case. It removes every hard problem:

• Rear doors and the rear quarter panel are where a pedestrian stands. This is the best position on any van.
• Side panels work when parked at the kerb, since the pavement is a metre away.
• The bonnet and roof are decorative only.
• Rear window is excellent on cars, because it is flat, glossy but vertical, and read from the pavement.

Scanning distance when parked is one to three metres, so the code needs to be 15 to 30 cm. That is far larger than most wrap designers expect and it is not negotiable.

Body panels are not flat

Vans have swage lines, ribs, door seams and compound curves, and every one of them distorts a code.

• Place the code on the flattest available panel, which is usually the centre of a rear door or the middle of the side panel between the ribs
• Never let the code cross a door gap or a rib. A physical step in the surface breaks the pattern
• Avoid the wheel arch and the lower 40 cm, which take road spray and stay dirty
• On a wrapped vehicle, the installer stretches vinyl around curves. Mark the code as a no-stretch zone in the artwork brief. The vehicle wrap guide covers how to hand that instruction to an installer

Weather and dirt

• Matte laminate, because a gloss wrap in sunlight is a mirror, and vehicles live in sunlight
• Dirt reduces contrast. Oversize a little and keep the code above the spray line
• Rear codes get covered in road film in winter. A washed panel scans, a filthy one does not, which is a fleet-cleaning argument as much as a design one
• Print on cast vinyl with UV laminate, or the black fades to grey within two summers

What a vehicle code should open

The pedestrian is standing outside a house where you are working. The scan should convert that into a job:

• A quote or booking form, which is the highest-value destination for any trade
• Reviews and recent local work, which is the social proof the street is already thinking about
• A phone code that dials directly, since the caller is one tap from talking to you
• Live service area and availability, so nobody calls about a postcode you do not cover
• For delivery and logistics fleets, a service or claims page, not a marketing page

Add a line of copy next to it. "Scan for a free quote" is what turns a curious neighbour into an enquiry.

One code per vehicle

Give every vehicle its own dynamic code. Scans by vehicle tell you which routes, which regions and which drivers generate enquiries, and it means a vehicle sold or reassigned does not carry a dead link to its next owner.