Why does the code glare inside a display case?

The glass or acrylic case front reflects gallery lighting back at the scanner, on top of any glare off the label itself. Matte laminate helps with spotlight glare but doesn't fix case reflection; angling the label slightly, or repositioning it away from the worst of the case lighting, usually does.

Should exhibit labels be static or dynamic?

Static if the object's place in the collection is settled: it's free, needs no account, and never expires. Dynamic if the object might move, be withdrawn, or the interpretation content might be corrected after the panels are printed, since a dynamic code can be repointed without reprinting the label.

What size should a QR code be on a small object label versus a wall panel?

A case label read from ten to twenty centimetres can be as small as 15-20mm. A wall-mounted interpretation panel, read from half a metre to a metre, needs roughly 30-40mm. See the print size guide for the full distance-to-size relationship.

QR Codes for Museum Exhibit Labels

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QR codes for museum exhibit labels

A single exhibit label carries one job: get one object's extra content onto one phone, at the exact distance and lighting the case or panel puts it in. That is a smaller problem than the multilingual cross-product on the next page, and a different one from a trail post standing outside in the rain, so it earns its own page rather than being folded into either. Get the destination right, the size right for where the object actually sits, and the finish right for the light above it, and one label keeps doing its job quietly for years.

Decide what the scan opens before you design the label

The single most common mistake on an exhibit label is not the size or the finish, it is the destination: pointing every code at the museum's general collections page because building forty individual pages feels like too much work. A visitor who scans once and lands on the same homepage as the code next to it learns, correctly, that scanning is pointless, and stops. The fix is to treat the destination as part of the label, not an afterthought: decide what that specific object needs before you generate the code.

Object or label type	Best destination	Why
A small object with a short panel	An extended text page: the fuller story the panel had no room for	The panel gives the headline, the page gives the depth a curator actually wrote
An object with a spoken story: a maker, a provenance, a quote	A short audio track, ideally under two minutes	A voice does what a page of text can't for an object that's really about a story
A working model, mechanism or anything that moves	A short video of it in motion	Text cannot show a mechanism working; a clip does it in seconds
Any label covered by an access commitment	A plain-language or British Sign Language transcript of the panel copy	A funded or public-sector venue will usually be checked on this, not just asked

Sizing for a case, not a wall

A case-mounted object label and a wall panel are not the same sizing problem. A case label is read from ten to twenty centimetres, often with a hand or a nose right up against the glass, so it can be much smaller than the pillar's 30-40mm panel guidance and still scan comfortably. It also has a problem a wall panel doesn't: reflection off the glass or acrylic case front itself, on top of any spotlight glare. Matte laminate on the label doesn't fix that, because the glass is doing the reflecting, not the label. Angling the label a few degrees off dead flat, or mounting it slightly below the worst of the case lighting, does.

Where it sits	Typical viewing distance	Minimum code size	Extra to watch for
Inside a glass or acrylic case	10-20cm, right against the glass	15-20mm	Reflection off the case front, not just the spotlight; angle the label rather than laminate harder
Wall-mounted interpretation panel	0.5-1m	30-40mm, see the print size guide	Spotlight glare; matte laminate
Freestanding gallery board	1-2m	50-70mm	Foot traffic crowds the board; leave room for a visitor to step back and scan

When the object list changes after the labels are printed

Touring exhibitions and loan collections rarely settle early. An object list can change two or three times before opening as a lender withdraws a piece or a case gets rearranged for conservation reasons. A label with a static code baked into the laminate means a reprint every time that happens. A dynamic code means the printed label never moves; only the destination behind it does, the moment the object does.

Before the panels go to print:

1
Decide static or dynamic per label
Base it on how settled that object's place in the case actually is, not a blanket rule for the whole exhibition.
2
Build the destination first
The audio track, video or extended text page should exist before the code that points at it does, not the other week round.
3
Proof every code in situ
Scan it at the case, under the real lighting, not on a desk under an office lamp.
4
Name the file for the object
"Roman coins hoard" sorts a print handoff folder; "exhibit code 14" doesn't tell the print house anything.

Whatever the panel itself didn't have room for: an extended text page, a short audio clip for an object with a story, a video for anything that moves, or an accessible transcript. Never the museum's general homepage; a code that always leads to the same generic page teaches visitors to stop scanning.

Part of Museums, galleries & heritage

QR codes for museum exhibit labels

Decide what the scan opens before you design the label

Sizing for a case, not a wall

When the object list changes after the labels are printed

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