QR codes are now a part of everyday life. Since their invention in the mid 1990s and increasing popularity since the COVID pandemic in the early 2020s, most people would have made one by now. Since mid 2013, InDesign has been able to create QR codes either using InDesign’s Data Merge panel to make them en masse, or allowed the creation of one-off QR codes by making a frame and then selecting Generate QR code from the contextual menu.

This dialog allows users to enter their own information in one of five preset formats, and also assign a color to the code, to make a QR code that we’re familiar with.

They’re very boxy

But this code looks… boring. Look at it – yes it’s functional, but it would be great to make it differ from every other QR code out there. With a quick search of the web, it’s possible to find websites that will make dozens of variations of QR codes, such as qrcodemonkey.

From this site, I can change the body shape from joined solids to circle dots, or even stars. The eye-frame shape (the big squares in three of the four corners of a QR code) is also adjustable, as well the fill within the big squares.

Let’s use a new Adobe solution via Express

But I don’t need that much adjustment, I just want to make the QR code look a little different to its usual appearance. For that I can use the Generate QR code quick action that is in the Creative Cloud app itself.

In the next dialog, I’m prompted for the URL I want to turn into a QR code.

Unfortunately I can’t use the other options that I would use in InDesign (not to mention qrcodemonkey) but that’s fine – I’m just making a QR code of my website, so I enter the URL and then click the Style tab.

It is here that I’m presented with the additional options for the enhanced appearance. I can also change the color in the color tab but I’m limited to what the dialog has chosen for me. Now I need to export this into a format I can use in InDesign.

I’m presented with three options: PNG; JPG or SVG. Oddly, I’m not presented with PDF, so instead I’ll choose PNG and add it to my design.

We’re not all designing for screens

However, this is in RGB – I need this to be in black, and also a bitmap so that it is either black or white and no shades of grey so that when it prints, the edges don’t go fuzzy from the printer trying to apply a halftone shade to the code. Perhaps I’ll try the SVG as this is a vector graphic.

This is now vector, but the issue persists that the file format is RGB (the native color format for an SVG file ) that – when I look at the separations panel – has converted into a process faux black. I can fix this in Illustrator if it’s a one-off, but I hope the Adobe Express developers add a PDF option at some stage that’s more suited for print output.

What if I have hundreds of codes to make?

So far, I’ve just tried to make my own URL look fancy, but if I have hundreds of QR codes that are more than just URLs, I’m going to need another solution.

Given that I can create variable QR codes in InDesign and export them to uniquely named PDFs using my Data Merge to Single Record script, I could effectively export these QR codes as PDF graphics, and then change their appearance in Illustrator by taking full advantage of Illustrator’s batch tool.

Let’s try the dot effect

Using my earlier QR code as an example, I’ve taken it into Illustrator so that I can do something as simple as rounded corners from the effects panel. Let’s see what that looks like:

That’s very odd, I neither have all circles or all rounded corners, but instead I have a mix. I’ll undo this and go to the wireframe view, or Command+Y.

I can now see that InDesign has used an unusual way of creating the QR code appearance by making a series of vertical lines. This is a unique appearance that I could adopt, but it isn’t what I’m after.

Let’s try rounding the corners instead

Looks like I won’t be able to make dots, but I could at least round all of the corners to make the QR code look nicer. I should be able to join them using pathfinder and run the rounded corners action again, right?

Unfortunately, no. The joins are very close but not precise enough to weld together, leaving seams that look like they touch, but technically don’t, so they don’t end up welding. If I undo this, there is a way I could fix this by making all sizes a little larger by selecting them all with Command+A, applying a very small offset path so that all objects align, welding all of the objects, and then applying the offset path in the same increment in the opposite direction… but that’s a lot of work… but there’s an easier way.

Render then trace

Instead, I’m going to select all objects with Command+A and then go Object/Rasterize and from the dialog, change none of the options and click OK. From here, with the frame still selected, I’m going to click Image Trace from my control panel, and then Expand. It gives me the following results

From a distance, the QR code looks “boxy” again but I should be able to apply a round corners from the effect/stylize/round corners menu, right?

Round corners ain’t Rounded corners

The corners look round, but they look horrible. If I undo this and instead select all objects with my white arrow tool so that I can access the live corners feature, does this improve?

Yes, it improves it a great deal. In fact, I can access other features of the line corners dialog such as inverted round or chamfer – two options I don’t have from the round corners option in the effects menu.

Potentially dozens of effects…

If I let my mind wander, I can select the qr code and perhaps try more artistic options, such as:

• Stylize/scribble;
• Distort and Transform/roughen
• Distort and Transform/zig zag
• Distort and Transform/tweak

…but they won’t save as an action…

That’s fine if I have one code to make, but earlier I mentioned using Illustrator to make an action so that the batch feature could be leveraged to make these QR codes change en masse.

Unfortunately, these effects menu features don’t save into the actions if applying them with your cursor. You can go to the actions panel and use the Insert Menu Item… to add the effect manually, but there is no way of controlling the dimensions of the user interface during the action, so results can vary.

…and graphic styles won’t apply…

It is possible to apply a graphic style via an Acrobat action… if the style is there. However, these graphics have all come outside of Illustrator so don’t have the graphic style within the Illustrator file itself. There is a forum thread that discusses this but never unfortunately doesn’t deliver a conclusion.

…but scripts to the rescue

Just as it is possible to add menu items via the actions panel, it is also possible to add scripts to the actions panel, provided that they can be found through the actions panel. With this in mind, I’ve used a couple of scripts via the Adobe forums to create an action that will apply rounded corners as an action; and also made a separate action without any scripts and only using Illustrator’s native functions to bevel the corners of a QR code. If you would like a copy of these actions and scripts to try for yourself, please get in touch with me via my contact page.

Making a batch

With the action now made, I can close all open Illustrator files so that I’m left with Illustrator’s “home screen” and then I can click on the AI logo in the top left corner so that my panels are once again visible. From here I can go to the Actions panel and select batch from the hamburger menu, and then run the action on the desired folder.

No batch through bridge though

As I’ve batched many photos using Adobe Bridge, I was under the impression that I could access the batch function of Illustrator through here, but sadly not. Instead, I only had the one option, despite photoshop having the ability to batch through Bridge.

What an ordeal!

From simply wanting dots or rounded corners added to a QR Code from InDesign, I’ve ended up down a rabbit hole that has seen me testing out various applications to make QR codes; testing various Adobe Illustrator features that I’ve used in passing but not used in a practical sense (until now) and discovered several foibles and behaviours along the way that are worth highlighting:

• Update Adobe InDesign’s Generate QR Code to not only include more media options (such as facetime, event or location) but also the ability to change the QR Code’s appearance in step with Adobe Express;
• Round corners are not equal to rounded corners in Adobe illustrator;
• Adobe Express’ QR Code maker is designed for QR Codes for screens, not print;
• Illustrator Actions are good, but have issues to be aware of such as the need to insert menu actions from the actions panel rather than through the normal user interface; the difficulty in applying graphic styles;
• It would be great if Adobe Bridge could also access the batch command of Adobe Illustrator in the same way that it can access the batch command of Adobe Photoshop.

In a future post for Colecandoo, I will go through the research that I undertook to determine if there was a better way to prepare fancy QR Codes en masse, and one answer that I encountered is guaranteed to shock! Stay tuned.