How Do You Put a QR Code on a Ticket?
A ticket is the one surface here that usually carries two QR codes with completely different jobs: the one the door staff scan to let someone in, and the one the guest scans to find out where to go. Make the second one below, then read on for how to keep the two apart.
Opens in Google Maps. Coordinates work too - "37.4224, -122.0841".
The code opens your business's "Write a review" form. Paste the Place ID, or a Google Maps link that carries one.
A UPI link carries no checksum, so a mistyped ID produces a code that scans perfectly and pays somebody else. Paste the ID from your payment app rather than typing it, and send yourself one rupee before printing.
Paste it exactly as copied. KoloQR does not assemble the payload - it encodes the one your bank issued, and checks it before you print it.
SVG, PNG, JPG • Max 2 MB
What Size Should a QR Code Be on a Ticket?
Print the guest-facing code at 2 to 2.5 cm and the entry code at whatever size the access-control system specifies - usually 2.5 to 3 cm, because a gate scanner reads it from a fixed distance in poor light. Keep at least 1 cm of clear space between the two so neither falls inside the other's quiet zone.
- The Stock, in Millimetres - a classic thermal ticket is 54 x 140 mm, a home-printed A4 ticket has a stub across the top, and a wristband tab is often under 25 mm wide. The wristband is the constraint that forces every other decision.
- Two Codes, One Metre Apart in Meaning - the entry code carries a token the venue's system checks; the information code carries a URL. Label both, keep 1 cm between them, and never let a design decision swap their positions between batches.
- Never Across the Perforation - the tear line removes part of the pattern the moment the stub is separated. Keep each code entirely on its own side of the perforation, with the quiet zone intact.
- Quiet Zone - four blank modules on every side, roughly 3 mm on a 2 cm code. On a busy ticket the terms and conditions text is what usually creeps into it.
The entry code is not yours to design. Its size, error correction and content are set by the access-control system, and changing any of them to fit a layout is how a queue stops moving at 7 p.m. Design the ticket around it.
Generate QR CodeWhat to Link a Guest-Facing Ticket Code To
The entry code gets someone through the door. These six are what the second code should do once they are inside - each one a question the box office would otherwise answer by phone.
Doors, Times and the Running Order
When to arrive, when the support act starts, when it ends. Printed times change; a linked page does not have to be reprinted when the curfew moves.
Directions and Parking
A maps link to the correct entrance rather than to the venue's postcode, plus where to park and which gate to use. It is the most-asked question at every event and the easiest to answer with a code.
The Venue's Access Information
Step-free routes, accessible seating, quiet spaces, assistance contacts. Putting this behind a code on every ticket reaches the people who need it without making them ask.
Bag Policy and Conditions of Entry
What is allowed through the door. A scan on the way from the car park saves a bag being turned away at the front of a queue, which is the worst place to learn a rule.
Transfer or Resale
The official route for passing a ticket on. Making it one scan from the ticket itself is the practical alternative to the secondary market that fills the gap otherwise.
The Programme or Set List
A digital programme, cast list or exhibition guide, replacing a printed booklet nobody carries home. It also survives the event, which is where the follow-up email finds its audience.
How to Make a QR Code for a Ticket
Five steps for the guest-facing code - the one you control. The entry code comes from your ticketing system and this process does not touch it.
Generate QR Code- 1
Confirm the Entry Code's Footprint First
Ask the ticketing or access-control provider what size and position their code needs. That block is fixed; everything else on the ticket is designed around it.
- 2
Write One Page That Answers the Door Questions
Times, entrance, parking, accessibility, bag policy - on one short page at a short URL on your own domain. That page is what the guest code opens.
- 3
Build the Code
Open the generator above, paste the link, and keep the pattern dark on white. Thermal stock is grey rather than white and prints at limited contrast, so this is not the place for a brand-coloured code.
- 4
Place and Label Both Codes
'Scan at the door' beside the entry code, 'Scan for directions and times' beside yours, with 1 cm between them and neither crossing the perforation.
- 5
Test the Real Ticket, at the Gate
Print on the actual stock and scan both codes: yours with a phone, the entry code with the venue's scanner. Do it in the lighting the door has at night, not in the office.
Thermal Stock, Fading and the Queue
Most ticket codes fail for reasons that have nothing to do with the design. Direct thermal stock darkens in heat and fades in sunlight, screen brightness decides whether a phone ticket scans at all, and a gate scanner has about a second per person before a queue starts backing up.
- Thermal Transfer, Not Direct Thermal - direct thermal tickets go grey in a hot car and fade in a wallet over a summer. Thermal transfer or conventional print survives the months between sale and event.
- Print Dark on White - thermal stock is off-white and its blacks are grey. Contrast that would be comfortable on coated paper is marginal here, so keep the code plain rather than branded.
- Keep the Codes Apart - 1 cm of clear space between the entry code and the guest code, and clear labels on both. A scanner presented with two codes in one frame is a scanner that reads the wrong one.
- Design for the Gate's Second - door staff scan in low light, at speed, on a moving ticket. Larger modules and higher error correction on the entry code cost paper and save the queue; why a QR code is not scanning covers the rest of the failure list.
Phone tickets are the other half of this. A screen at low brightness with auto-dimming on is the most common scanning failure at a door, and it is fixed by telling the guest to raise their brightness on the same page the ticket code opens - which is one more reason for that page to exist.
Generate QR CodeBefore the Tickets Are Printed
A ticket has one moment where it must work, in front of a queue. These checks belong to the weeks before, not the evening of.
Never Redesign the Entry Code
Its size, content and error correction come from the access-control system. Recolouring it, shrinking it or adding a logo to it is how a gate stops reading tickets on the night.
Label Which Code Is Which
'Scan at the door' and 'Scan for information'. Two unlabelled codes on one stub means guests presenting the wrong one at the gate, which costs seconds each at exactly the wrong time.
Keep Both Off the Perforation
A torn stub takes whatever crosses the tear line with it. Each code belongs entirely on one side, with its quiet zone.
Use Print That Lasts to the Event
Tickets bought in March are scanned in August, after a season in a drawer or a glove box. Direct thermal fades in that time; specify stock that does not.
Test With the Venue's Own Scanner
A phone camera is more forgiving than a gate scanner. Verify a printed sample on the equipment that will be at the door, in the light that will be there.
Keep the Information Page Live After the Event
People scan tickets afterwards, for the set list, the photographs or a refund. Redirect the page rather than deleting it, the same way a save-the-date link is kept alive until the day.
Questions? Answered
Because they do different jobs. The entry code carries a token the venue's access-control system validates, and it is generated by the ticketing platform. The second code is yours: it opens a page with times, directions, parking and accessibility. Keep 1 cm between them and label both clearly.
2 to 2.5 cm for the guest-facing code, and whatever the access-control provider specifies for the entry code - usually 2.5 to 3 cm. The gate scanner reads at a fixed distance in poor light and at speed, which is why its code is the larger of the two.
To your information code, yes, if contrast stays strong. To the entry code, no. Its appearance is set by the system that validates it, and restyling it is one of the few reliable ways to stop a queue moving on the night.
Direct thermal will. It darkens in heat and fades in sunlight, so a ticket bought in spring and left in a car can be unreadable by the event. Thermal transfer or conventional printing holds for years, and it is worth specifying for anything sold more than a few weeks ahead.
Screen brightness, nearly every time. A dimmed screen with auto-brightness in a dark doorway gives a gate scanner almost nothing to work with, and a cracked screen or a heavy privacy film finishes the job. Ask guests to raise brightness before they reach the door.
Only for the information code. Entry codes must be unique per ticket, which means variable-data printing and a system that can mark each one used - otherwise one photographed ticket admits an unlimited number of people. The information page is identical for everyone and can be a single static code.
Each entirely on one side of the perforation, never crossing it. The entry code belongs on the part the venue keeps or scans, the information code on the part the guest keeps. A torn stub takes any pattern crossing the tear line with it.
Redirect it rather than delete it. People scan tickets weeks later looking for the set list, the photographs or a refund policy, and a 404 at that point is a support email. Keeping the URL on your own domain is what makes that redirect possible at all - see QR codes for events for the wider set-up around a ticketed event.
Keep Exploring
Pages that pick up where this one leaves off - the same setting, the same kind of code, or the next thing worth deciding.
Weddings
One code on the invitation, linking guests to your RSVP form, the schedule and directions, and a shared photo album afterwards.
Photographers
Client galleries, print reorders, portfolio links and guest photo uploads, on cards, albums, prints and event signs.
Invitations
Weddings, parties and formal invitations - where the code belongs, how small it can go, and which finishes and overlays block it.
Event QR Code
Put the date, time, and venue straight into someone's calendar in one scan.
Twitch QR Code
Open your Twitch channel from a stream overlay, a convention stand, or a merch insert.
Vehicles
Vans, cars and fleet livery - the size a code needs at the kerb, and the part of the bodywork where it survives rivets, seams and road film.
Why KoloQR?
- Create QR codes for websites, menus, Wi-Fi, PDFs, and business cards
- Customize colors, logos, and unique shapes
- Download high-quality PNG and SVG files
- Built for both print and digital
