Show HN: Beautiful QR Codes

#1

Post by janpmz » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 11:21 AM UTC

Show HN: Beautiful QR Codes
scanwayy.com

Re: Show HN: Beautiful QR Codes

#2

Post by tlonny » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 11:34 AM UTC

Not to disparage, but I wrote:

"Using the attached image as a stencil/background - please generate a QR code for https://XXX"

into ChatGPT and got something valid that looks similar in style to your offering.

I think the age of trying to wrap a highly focused AI task in a SaaS has come and gone.

Re: Show HN: Beautiful QR Codes

#3

Post by romanovcode » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 11:37 AM UTC

tlonny wrote: post #2

Not to disparage, but I wrote: "Using the attached image as a stencil/background - please generate a QR code for https://XXX" into ChatGPT and got something valid that looks similar in style to your offering. I think the age of trying to wrap a highly focused AI task in a SaaS has come and gone.

Jokes on you, this is the exact prompt OP uses in the BE lol

Re: Show HN: Beautiful QR Codes

#4

Post by zerolunier » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 11:38 AM UTC

yo, design looks dope, 100% gone use it for my business

Re: Show HN: Beautiful QR Codes

#5

Post by gnfargbl » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 11:39 AM UTC

tlonny wrote: post #2

Not to disparage, but I wrote: "Using the attached image as a stencil/background - please generate a QR code for https://XXX" into ChatGPT and got something valid that looks similar in style to your offering. I think the age of trying to wrap a highly focused AI task in a SaaS has come and gone.

I don't disagree, but remember the lesson of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 -- historically, people have been willing to pay for convenience.

Re: Show HN: Beautiful QR Codes

#6

Post by tlonny » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 11:41 AM UTC

gnfargbl wrote: post #5

tlonny wrote: post #2

Not to disparage, but I wrote: "Using the attached image as a stencil/background - please generate a QR code for https://XXX" into ChatGPT and got something valid that looks similar in style to your offering. I think the age of trying to wrap a highly focused AI task in a SaaS has come and gone.

I don't disagree, but remember the lesson of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 -- historically, people have been willing to pay for convenience.

I would argue that my proposed flow is far more convenient. I don’t have to sign up, enter payment details and I can interface in plain English.

Re: Show HN: Beautiful QR Codes

#7

Post by jruohonen » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 11:41 AM UTC

Nice idea! Simple but no one has done it previously, so that counts. (As per some posts, I stand corrected, but still, I believe no one has done it as an implementation.)

Re: Show HN: Beautiful QR Codes

#8

Post by jeroenhd » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 11:47 AM UTC

The concept itself has been done a few times before. This Reddit thread has an explanation on how you can generate these yourself: https://www.reddit.com/r/StableDiffusion/comments/18aoqs0/co...

The good old https://huggingface.co/monster-labs/control_v1p_sd15_qrcode_... model and its predecessors also help.

The technique works for other black-and-white masks too: https://reticulated.net/dailyai/ai-generated-qr-codes-with-s...

Re: Show HN: Beautiful QR Codes

#9

Post by tapland » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 11:50 AM UTC

Good looking qr codes is nice, but doing them using AI feels like a huge waste?

Re: Show HN: Beautiful QR Codes

#10

Post by janpmz » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 11:51 AM UTC

tlonny wrote: post #2

Not to disparage, but I wrote: "Using the attached image as a stencil/background - please generate a QR code for https://XXX" into ChatGPT and got something valid that looks similar in style to your offering. I think the age of trying to wrap a highly focused AI task in a SaaS has come and gone.

With simple prompting it works sometimes but less reliably. I implemented a healing and strengthening algorithm which can improve codes that don't scan quickly.