While reading the davidthedesigner blog for my latest typography fix, I spotted this article about QR-codes. They’re a sort of square bar-code that can be read by mobile phones. You can generate your own here and get the software here.
Are these ever likely to take off? Should we start printing them on posters or business cards? I doubt it – but here’s a test image with a hidden message which you can use to send me your views.
So you doubt it will ever take off, do you? You could get famous with a comment like that. As I recall, just ahead of the WWI, someone stood in the British Parliament and declared that they saw no future for airplanes in warfare. Well you just topped him.
Greg,
I think getting the future of the aeroplane wrong might be a slightly bigger mistake!
Don’t get me wrong – I think it’s a very interesting concept (and a good enough idea to put on my blog), but I also think there’s a risk that it gets overtaken by ‘conventional’ OCR recognition as phones get more powerful before it gets broadly taken up.
OCR technology is great, but there are problems with this approach:
> First, not every URL is and will be mobile compatible. There will be a long time before every website has an additional mobile site. PC Web is and will never be the same at the Mobile Web. Both mediums have their own advantages and disadvantages.
> Second, the iconic value of the QR Code is as much important as the scanning. Every QR Code basically tells you that there is “mobile content” behind it.
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