Practice
When the QR code will not scan: the short link
At every party there are the two people whose camera recognises nothing. The typeable address on the sign is for them, and it has to be printed properly.
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QR codes work first time for about nineteen out of twenty guests. The twentieth holds up their phone, nothing happens, they turn it, move closer, say "it doesn't work for me" and put it away. There is a second address for exactly that moment.
Why the code sometimes will not scan
- Too dark. Candlelight on the table is not enough for the camera. It is the most common cause and the one nobody thinks of while putting the sign up in the afternoon.
- Too close or too angled. An A6 card wants 20 to 30 centimetres of distance, an A4 sign more like a metre.
- Half covered. A glass in front of a corner, a napkin ring across it. QR codes tolerate a surprising amount, but not everything.
- The camera app cannot do it. On very old Android phones you need a separate app for it, and nobody has one.
The typeable address
That is why every printed piece carries a short address under the code that can be typed by hand, twelve characters, printed in groups of four, like abcd-2345-mnpq.
Three things about it are deliberate:
- No 0 and no O, no 1, l or I. Those are the pairs people confuse on paper. They do not appear in the alphabet of these codes at all, so "I typed it three times" does not happen.
- The hyphens are decoration. Type them or leave them out; upper and lower case make no difference. Phone keyboards capitalise the first letter anyway, and nothing should fail because of that.
- Twelve characters, not six. The address is a second key to a gallery whose only protection is that nobody guesses it. Short enough to type, long enough that trying combinations is hopeless. That is a security decision, not a matter of taste.
How to do it on the sign
Our print templates bring both by themselves: a large code with the address underneath, in a line you can read while seated. What you can add:
- Read it out once. "If the code will not work, just type momentum dot photo slash g slash …". That removes the awkwardness of asking.
- One sign where there is light. At least one somewhere that has more than candles.
- Do not laminate if the lighting reflects. Glossy film under spotlights is the second most common reason for a code that refuses.
And for whoever will not type at all
Then send the link. The gallery link works in any message, any SMS and any e-mail, and it is exactly what a guest passes on when the person next to them is stuck. Which is why every gallery comes with a ready-made message to copy, right next to the print material.
