Put up a QR sign that gets people to live captions.

Put up QR signs that get scanned in six steps

The code is the easy part. Size, placement and a test do the rest.

1. 1

   Decide where people will be when they decide to scan

   People scan when they are already holding a phone and already waiting: at the door, in their seat, in the minutes before the start. A sign that is somewhere else, or too small to read from where they stand, is not noticed.

   The code opens the venue’s reading page, spanvoice.com/v/ followed by the venue code. On many phones the camera first shows a link that has to be tapped. So the sequence is: open the phone’s camera, point it at the code, tap the link that appears, then choose a language on the reading page and the words start. Nothing is installed and no account is made.

   The code is the venue’s reusable audience link, so you do not need a new sign for each event. Check any old signs before you reuse them.

   Guest at the door or in a seat

   Phone camera scans the sign

   Reading page a list of languages

   Their language words as they are spoken

2. 2

   Get the code from the venue page

   In the SpanVoice admin, open the venue’s Overview page. The For your audience panel shows the reading link and its code. There are three things to use:

   • Download QR shows the code and offers it as PNG (for screens and projectors), SVG (for printing, at any size) or JPG (if nothing else is accepted).
   • Print sign opens a sheet of fifteen small stickers on one A4 page. Each has the code and the short link under it. A Print button is at the bottom of the page.
   • In the desk app, the QR button under Links & QR shows a large code on the screen.

   The code carries the audience link only, with no event name or date in it, which is why the same sign can be used for more than one event. The link keeps working as long as the venue exists; if a venue is deleted, its signs stop working.

3. 3

   Print the small signs for seats and tables

   The sticker sheet is set up for A4, with fifteen stickers of 50 mm and a code of about 34 mm on each. Print it at actual size, not shrunk to fit the page, then cut along the dashed lines. Plain paper works, or sticker paper if you want to stick them down.

   A code that size is for close range: a table, a seat back, a programme or a hand-held card. It is too small for a wall. Printing a sign larger helps, but how well it scans still depends on the print quality, the lighting and the phone.

   The stickers carry only the code and the link. If you want a heading, add it in your own words beside or above the code, in the languages your audience speaks, for example an invitation to scan and read the event in their own language. Keep the heading clear of the code and do not cover or crop the blank border around it.

4. 4

   Make a bigger sign for the doors and the lectern

   For anything seen from across a room, use the SVG download. It stays sharp at any size, so you can place it in a poster or a flyer and print it large. As a starting point, the code itself, not the whole poster, should be about a tenth as wide as the distance people will scan it from, so a person scanning from two metres away needs a code about twenty centimetres wide. It is only a starting point: test it, because print quality, lighting and phones all change the result.

   • Dark on a light background is the safest. Do not use pale colours on pale or busy backgrounds, and do not put the code over a photograph.
   • Keep the blank border. The code comes with a clear white margin four small code squares wide on every side. Keep it intact: do not crop it, and keep text and artwork out of it.
   • Keep the code square and undistorted. Do not stretch it, rotate it on a curve or wrap it round a pole.
   • Matte finishes beat gloss. A glossy print or a laminated sign can reflect the room lights into the phone’s camera.
   • Print the short link under the code for anyone who types the address instead of scanning.
5. 5

   Put them where people already look

   Use several places, because each catches different people:

   • At each entrance, at eye level, so late arrivals still get it. One sign per door, placed so that people can stop and scan without blocking the way in.
   • On the seats or tables as the small stickers or cards, so people who are seated, or who cannot reach a wall sign, can still scan.
   • On the lectern or the front of the room, large enough to scan from the back rows.
   • On a slide before the event starts. Use the PNG download, then switch to the projector page when you begin. Check it scans from the back row with the room lights as they will be on the day.
   • In the programme, ticket or message sent ahead, so people arrive with the page open. In emails, messages and digital tickets, include the audience link as a clickable link as well as the code, because someone reading on their phone cannot scan a code on that same screen.

   The page shows Off air when nothing is running and starts by itself when the event begins, so the signs can go up early.

6. 6

   Test the scan before anyone arrives

   Scan every kind of sign from where people will stand, not from a table at the front. Open the phone’s camera, point it at the code and tap the link that appears:

   • Use two or three different phones, including an older one.
   • Check the page opens on mobile data and on the venue’s own Wi-Fi if guests will be using it. The reading page needs an internet connection on each phone.
   • Check the page shows the right venue name.
   • Test the printed copies, not only the screen. Printing can change colours and sizes.

   When an event is running, choose a language and check words arrive.

   Tape a spare small sign somewhere obvious and tell the door team where it is. A sign that people cannot reach or read from where they stand is a common reason it seems not to work.