Typophile

Barcodes

Jojo Blöndal

Does anyone know if “one” is allowed to scale (proportionately, of course) barcodes? There might be regulations on this but I cannot seem to find any when I “googled” it. I am working on a DVD package and I would like to scale down the barcode (aka the UPC code) to fit better into the layout. I’ve often wondered this but have never asked.

(this is the small box that has black lines, white bkgd, used for retail purposes)

I am under a tight deadline and won’t be able to ask my client until tomorrow afternoon. And it would surely help to know tonight. Thanks!

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Jason Pagura

I have seen on many packages the proportions of the UPC code rectangle changed. The height and scale of the bars does not seem to be relevant to a a proper read. Just don’t squoosh the numbers and it should turn out fine.

Still, I would hope someone with more expertise can confirm or deny this.

will powers

Book jacket designers generally regard bar codes as pieces of ugly that just have to be dealt with. Reducing bar codes can be done without compromising the ability of scanners to read the bars.

At our publishing house we run the bar code so the height of the tallest bars — those at the extreme left of the ISBN bar code — is about 3/8”.

We do not compress the width of the bar code. That’s because compressing the width of the overall bar code will compress the width of individual bars. This can cause difficulties with scanning devices. You do not want that.

We began this re-sizing 9+ years ago, when I came here as design manager. I’m guessing that we have put nearly 800,000 individual books on the market since then [that’s copies, not titles]. We have had not a single complaint that our bar codes were not readable.

There are other ways to lessen the visual impact of bar codes without making them un-scannable. We often put them in picture boxes with rounded corners, and fill those boxes with a tint value appropriate to the overall design. This softens them a bit. You have to be careful that the background is not too dark. I use BarCode Pro to make bar codes, and this software allows you to scale as you make the bar code. So they come into Quark & InDesign at the right size.

The best treatment I ever saw of a bar code was on the back of a book about swamps and wetlands. The designer obtained a line drawing of reeds and then stuck the bar code amongst the reeds. It was nearly invisible. This was fine aesthetically, but I do bet it played hob with store clerks trying to figure where to aim the scanner.

I hope this is some help. It is late at night that I have seen this, so I may be too late. Good luck. Post here with the results, please.

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