Nick

QR Code

November 2025

I made a tool to generate stylish QR codes.

Check it out here: qrcode.nickn.dev

How the idea started:

QR Codes are usually pretty boring.

The good news is that they are designed to be able to handle distortion. This means they can be manipulated into nicer looking shapes while still being readable.

I started by using a libary to generate a bitmap of the QR Code data, then rendering the individual modules with some basic shapes.

How it's going:

To make things more interesting, I'm adding a Connected Component Analysis algorithm that bundles neighboring modules together, and then draws the group as a single shape. This will allow me to do things like rectangles with rounded corners or diamond-shaped flourishes at the edges.