Is Design Studio free to use?

Yes — the editor, templates and PNG export are free, with a small watermark and 150 DPI resolution. Removing the watermark, 300 DPI export, multi-page ZIP and SVG export are paid-plan features.

What resolution do I need for print?

300 DPI is the standard for sharp print output — that's what the paid tier exports at. 150 DPI (the free tier) is fine for screens but will look soft printed at poster size.

Can I use my own photos in the design?

Yes, Design Studio supports image uploads alongside its built-in shapes, icons and badges.

Will the QR code still scan if I change its colour?

Yes, as long as contrast against the background stays high — see the QR code best practices guide for the specific rules.

Can I design multiple pages, like a poster and a flyer, together?

Yes — multi-page designs are supported, and export together as a ZIP on paid plans.

How to design a QR code poster or flyer for free

Updated September 2026

A QR code dropped onto a finished poster as an afterthought usually looks like exactly that. Designing the code into the layout from the start — sized, placed and styled to match — gets noticed and gets scanned. Here's how to do that without design software.

Why the QR code should be part of the design, not added to it

A code that matches the poster's colour scheme, sits in a natural place in the layout (a corner, near the call to action, not floating awkwardly in blank space) and has a short line of text next to it explaining what it's for gets scanned far more than one stamped on top of a finished design as an afterthought.

Building one in Design Studio

Design Studio is a canvas-based editor — think a simplified Canva focused on print output. Start from a template (posters, flyers, event signage, business cards and more are covered) or a blank page at any standard size, then add text, shapes, icons, badges and images alongside a QR or barcode element.

The QR code is a real element on the canvas: resize it, recolour it, move it anywhere, and it stays fully scannable as long as contrast is kept high — see the best practices guide for exactly how much colour and logo you can add before it breaks.

Getting print-ready output

For anything actually going to a printer, export resolution matters — a poster that looks sharp on screen at 72 DPI prints visibly blurry. Design Studio's paid tier exports at 300 DPI (standard print resolution) with no watermark; the free tier exports at 150 DPI with a small watermark, which is fine for a screen-only flyer but not for large-format print.

Multi-page designs (a set of flyers, or a poster plus a matching handout) export together as a ZIP on paid plans; the free plan exports one page at a time.

SVG for anything resized later

If the same design might get resized — a flyer that becomes a banner, a poster that gets reused at A3 and A5 — export as SVG (paid plans) instead of PNG. Vector output stays perfectly sharp at any size, where a raster PNG made for one size looks pixelated stretched larger.

Reusing a design

Save a design to your account and come back to update just the date or the offer for next month's version, rather than rebuilding the whole layout. Free plan: 3 saved items total across every tool. Paid: unlimited.