A free 3D QR code generator that makes your code an island’s courtyard

What “3D QR code” means here

People use “3D QR code” for three different things: a flat code drawn with shading so it looks raised, a code printed or carved as a physical object, and a code placed inside a 3D scene. QR Island does the third. Your code is laid out square by square as the courtyard of a small floating island, and a whole world is built round it: blossom and a torii gate in Sakura Night, brownstones and yellow cabs in Manhattan, a lighthouse and beach huts in Lighthouse Cove.

The island is live, not a picture: you can turn it, zoom in and switch worlds without losing your code, and the courtyard redraws as you type. Next to it there is always a flat version of the same code. That’s the one to print on a card, a menu or a sign, because a flat code with a clean margin scans fastest. The island is the eye-catcher: for a screen at your venue, a social post, a poster or the top of your website.

How to make a 3D QR code

1. Open the studio and choose a code type: a link or plain text, Wi‑Fi, a contact card, email, phone, SMS, WhatsApp, a map location or a calendar event.
2. Type your content in the message bar under the island. The courtyard redraws as you type.
3. Pick a world from the strip along the bottom of the screen. Your code moves with you from island to island.
4. Open Style to change the shape of the squares, the corner “eyes”, the colours and the courtyard’s material (stone, marble, wood, glass or hedge), and to add your logo. If a colour may be hard to scan, the studio says so under it and offers a darker shade in one click.
5. Press Get QR code for the flat code. Download it as PNG or SVG, or open the free print sheet. Island picture saves the 3D island itself.

Free codes are made in your browser: what you type is never sent to our server, and there’s nothing to sign up for.

Does the 3D island scan?

Yes, the courtyard is a real code: the island at the top of this page opens qrisland.com if you scan it from your screen. But a code seen at an angle, lit from one side and surrounded by scenery gives a phone less to work with than a flat square. A printed island needs room: about 15 cm wide for a short link, and more for long text or a contact card. So:

• Use the flat code for anything small: business cards, table tents, stickers, labels and packaging.
• Use the island where it’s big and seen up close: a screen at your venue, a poster, a social post, a website banner.
• Keep the link short. A short link makes a code with fewer, bigger squares, which suits an island best.
• Test before you print a batch, with two phones, from where people will really stand. Our guide on how to test a QR code has a ten-minute checklist.

The 25 worlds

Each world is its own island with its own light, colours and scenery, and the code takes on the world’s palette until you choose your own colours.

A link can open the studio in a particular world: Corner Café, Lighthouse Cove or Lunar Sanctuary, for example.

Style the code as well as the island

The code itself can change too, for free: 11 shapes for its squares (from plain squares to dots, hearts and leaves), five styles for the corner frames and six for their centres, any colours, and your logo in the middle. The same design is used on the island, the flat code and every download. Gradients and “Scan me” frames come with the Island pack. Our custom QR code generator page goes through every option, and which ones need a bigger print.

What you can download

The Island pack is US$6.99, paid once, tax included. You only need it for big prints, a video or files without the credit line; see pricing for everything side by side.