Soft Rounded Dots takes the Minimal White philosophy — contrast first, decoration second — and softens it for people whose work is judged on aesthetics: designers, photographers, illustrators, product folks, and creative freelancers. The rounded dot style applies a gentle corner radius to every module, which keeps noticeably more ink per module than fully circular dots do. That matters at small print sizes: a circle inscribed in a module square covers less area than the rounded square, so circles demand a slightly larger print size for the same scan reliability. Rounded dots are the sweet spot — visibly friendlier than hard squares, structurally close enough to them that scanner libraries decode them with effectively no penalty.
The palette is a warm-leaning charcoal (#2b2b2b) on an off-white (#fafafa) rather than pure black on pure white. The contrast is still around 14:1, far above what any mainstream scanner needs, and the softer pairing looks less stark on portfolio sites, resume PDFs, and printed lookbooks where pure black can feel harsh next to refined typography. The third palette color, a light grey, is reserved for the surrounding card or page area — never place it between modules and their background, since any tone other than the module background inside the symbol quietly erodes contrast.
Scanability notes: Error Correction Level M is the right default here because these codes live on paper and screens that get handled — portfolios get flipped through, resumes get folded into envelopes. Keep the code at least 20mm on a side in print, and on screen make sure the rendered size is at least 120 CSS pixels so the rounded modules stay crisp on low-density displays. If you are placing the code over a photograph or textured background, stop: put it on a solid #fafafa panel first. Rounded dots on a busy background are exactly the combination that fails at demo day.
Best for: design portfolios and case-study PDFs; resume and CV contact blocks; creative freelancer business cards; art exhibition labels; personal link-in-bio pages. Anywhere the audience skews toward people who notice type and spacing, and where a hard industrial QR would clash with the surrounding design language.
Avoid for: clinical or legal documents where a conservative square-dot code is expected; tiny favicon-scale placements; thermal-receipt printing, where rounded corners blur into blobs; and any context where the code must survive heavy abrasion, where square dots and higher error correction are the safer engineering choice.
Best for: - Design portfolios and case-study PDFs - Resume and CV contact blocks - Creative freelancer business cards - Art exhibition and gallery labels - Personal link-in-bio pages
Avoid for: - Legal or clinical documents (square dots read as more conservative) - Thermal receipt printing (rounded corners blur at low resolution) - Heavy-abrasion industrial labels