Which code where
| Job | Code type | Static or dynamic | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Machine how-to video | URL | Dynamic | Each machine, upright panel |
| Class booking | URL | Dynamic | Studio doors, timetable board |
| Membership sign-up | URL | Dynamic | Window, reception, day-pass receipt |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi | Static | Lockers, cardio floor, café |
| Feedback and fault report | URL | Dynamic | Each machine, changing rooms |
| Personal trainer booking | URL | Dynamic | PT board, trainer’s card |
Class booking at the door
Someone walks past the studio and sees a class they like on the board. Today the path to booking is open the app, find the timetable, find the class, tap. A code on the door that opens this week’s timetable with the booking button already there removes the search. Make it dynamic and point it at the timetable page, not a single class, so the door label is still right next term.
The same code can sit on the printed timetable at reception and on the receipt for a day pass. If a class fills, the dynamic link can switch to the waiting list without changing the label.
How-to videos on the machines
This is the code members use most, and the one most gyms never put up. A new member in front of a cable machine does not know how to set the seat or where their elbows go, and does not want to ask. A 3 cm code on the machine’s upright that opens a 30-second video, filmed on your own floor with your own trainer, answers the question privately.
One code per machine. Number them, match the number to the video, and make each code dynamic so a better video next year is a link change, not a relabel. The batch generator will make the whole floor’s codes from a list.
Sign-up and Wi-Fi
A join code on the window works for the person who stops to read the opening hours after closing time. It should open the membership page with prices visible, not a “request a callback” form. On the day-pass receipt it catches the person who has just had a good session.
The Wi-Fi code lives where people plug in headphones: lockers, the cardio floor and the café. Print the network name beside it so someone whose phone does not offer to join can type it.
Getting the machine label right
Gym labels have the hardest life of any code outside a building site.
- Material: printed vinyl or a laminated label, never plain paper. Paper is grey and curling within a week of spray.
- Level H. Spray, sweat and the odd dropped dumbbell will damage the surface. Level H keeps working with roughly a third of the code gone.
- Size: 3 to 4 cm. The member is standing next to the machine, about 30 to 40 cm away.
- Position: upright, flat, eye level for a standing person, away from grips, seat pads, weight stacks and anything that moves. Not on the floor or a footplate.
- Contrast: black on white. Gym lighting is often coloured or dim; a brand-coloured code loses contrast under a red spotlight.
- A short line: “Scan for how to use this machine”. Nothing more.
Do this
A 3.5 cm level H black-on-white vinyl label at eye level on the upright of the leg press, 'Scan for how to use this machine' beneath, pointing at a dynamic link to a 30-second video.
Not this
A 2 cm paper code in the brand's orange taped to the seat pad, sprayed twenty times a day, pointing at a two-hour YouTube playlist that starts with an advert.
In practice
Put labels on three machines first and leave them for a month. Scan them at the end. If they still read, roll out to the rest of the floor with the same material and level.
Privacy note
A code on a machine or a door should never carry a member’s details. Do not encode membership numbers, names or door PINs. A dynamic code records how many scans and roughly when, which tells you which machines confuse people most. That is useful and does not identify anyone.
Try it yourself
List each machine and its video link, one per line, and the batch generator produces the full set of labels ready to print on vinyl. Choose level H before you export.