Barrier-Free

Barrier-free refers to initiatives that remove the physical / institutional / psychological obstacles (barriers) that people with disabilities and older people face in social life. Ramps and elevators in buildings are typical examples, but barrier-free access to information is just as important.

Barrier-free QR code design involves several perspectives. For physical placement, examples include displaying the QR code at the eye level of wheelchair users (100 to 120 cm above the ground) and adding tactile markers (raised dots or braille) alongside it so that people with visual impairments can recognize that a QR code is there. For the design of the QR code itself, keep the contrast ratio between the foreground color and the background color at 4:1 or higher, and also take color vision diversity into account.

What tends to be overlooked is the barrier-free quality of the QR code's link destination. If the web page you reach after scanning does not support screen readers or does not allow the text size to be changed, it does not matter how easy the QR code itself is to read. QR code design needs to consider not only the moment of scanning but the entire experience that follows.