Universal Design

Universal design is the idea of designing products and environments so that as many people as possible can use them, regardless of age, disability, or differences in physical ability. It differs from barrier-free design, which focuses on "removing barriers," in that universal design aims from the start for a design in which barriers do not arise.

The principles of universal design also apply to the design / placement of QR codes. Examples include posting the QR code at the eye level of wheelchair users, adding raised dots that indicate the position of the QR code by touch for people with visual impairments, and ensuring a sufficient contrast ratio between the foreground color and the background color of the QR code with color vision diversity in mind.

On the digital side, the accessibility of the web page that the QR code links to is also important. True universal design means designing everything up to the experience after the QR code is scanned, including screen reader support, text enlargement features, and support for keyboard operation. However easy the QR code itself is to read, it is meaningless if the destination page is hard to use.