Hi All!
This upcoming season, we will begin using NScan. I am getting ready to print subscription tickets in the next couple of weeks. Can anyone provide me some advice that you've learned along the way on the best practices for barcodes on hard tickets and the design of the tickets? Print at Home will come a bit later for us so I'm really focused on the hard tickets. Also, I should note that our ticket stock is 5.5 inches by 2 inches and we tend to have a lot of text to get on there so my real estate can sometimes be limited.
Thanks in advance!
Jenny
We usually place 2 barcodes on tickets one being the “N-Scan Number” Barcode and one being the “Ticket Number” Barcode. The Ticket Number Barcode is considerably shorter and easier to deal with, but it doesn’t hurt to have two just in case one isn’t capable of being read. With our N-Scan barcode we really push the limits regarding size. It is only Font 10 and 1x1 with Ticket No we use Font 2 and make it 2x2. You definitely want one barcode on the stub that ushers would usually tear (in case the bar code isn’t reading at that moment). Be sure to keep some blank space around your barcodes or else it may not read properly. And if you find yourself obsessed with watching the seat map turn greed once tickets are being scanned rest assured that you are not alone. J
If you have any questions just let me know.
Nicole
From: Tessitura Ticketing Forum [mailto:forums-ticketing@tessituranetwork.com] On Behalf Of Jenny Graf Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2014 4:03 PM To: Nicole Keating Subject: [Tessitura Ticketing Forum] NScan barcodes
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We have two bar codes on our hard ticket stock, the NScan (Font-3 8x2 and rotated left) one and the ticker number (as a back up, Font-3, 4x2 ). I can send some examples over to you, if you would like, as we often have a lot of text on our tickets, along with logos etc. but our ticket stock is bigger than yours (we also don't have a stub on ours)
I would echo Nicole's suggestion of keeping white space around the bar code where you can so it can be read more easily. We sometimes have to push the limits on how close we move the text, and it can make the bar codes more difficult to read.
When you do eventually move to PAH, I would suggest keeping the portion of the PAH pdf design which has the ticket details on it as close as possible in design to your hard stock. Then your FOH team don't have to juggle with scanning bar codes/looking for info in different locations.
Caryl
Thanks, Caryl and Nicole! Very helpful! I'll be in touch if I have more questions.
And yes, totally excited to watch the map turn green!! #ticketnerds :-)