Hello!

The above image may not mean very much to you, but believe it or not, it actually contains a link to our website. Can’t see it? That’s because it’s encoded into the image, which is an example of a QR Code.  

If you haven’t used one before, or even seen one before, QR Codes work very much like barcodes for the modern era and can be used for a variety of different things. They are typically read by smartphones using the phone’s camera and an app for deciphering the code. Light bounces off the white spaces and is read by the camera, similarly to a barcode. The information that is deciphered by the phone is then converted, usually into a URL.

You may be thinking at this point ‘Why not just use a barcode?’ Well, very simply, information in a barcode is limited to around 20 characters, which is a problem if you want to enter any type of complex information. In contrast, QR Codes can hold up to 7,089 numeric characters or 4,296 alphanumeric characters. 

 

Every QR Code contains four squares, three large and one small. The three large squares are used for positioning or ‘anchoring’. These squares tell the camera that it’s looking at a QR Code. The smaller square in the lower-right corner is used for alignment, and helps the camera to determine which angle the QR Code is at, and allows it to be read from different positions and distances.     

        

Scanning a QR Code (via teic.ie)

 

Back in 1994, Denso Wave, a subsidiary of Toyota, developed QR (Quick Response) Codes to make inventory easier. Like most new technologies, they didn’t realize the wealth of potential for this new invention at the time. With the advent of smartphones, QR Codes began to appear on posters, billboards, newspaper ads, packaging. One great example of how a QR Coe can be used in marketing is in conjunction movies, where companies will now incorporate a QR Code into a poster or ad for an upcoming movie, or into a DVD cover. These QR Codes often lead to a trailer or website for the relevant movie, allowing you to learn more about it from your smartphone.

 

They can be used extensively and across different media, mainly because there is a level of error correction built into QR Code technology which allows the code to remain readable despite a certain level of damage or distortion to the code. This makes the codes robust and means then can be used almost anywhere. QR codes have even been used  for shopping, and incorporated into clothes!    

           

Via QR Project

           

This error correction technology also means that QR Codes can be customised in different ways to suit the brand they’ve been designed for. Here’s an example of a custom QR Code we designed recently for Britvic. As you can see, the code retains the basic elements of the original QR Code, while incorporating a logo and brand colours.

 

                 

Britvic QR Code from Lucidity

                 

 

If you look around, you’ll see QR Codes popping up all over the place, and if you’d like to have a QR Code designed for you or your company, get in touch with us!