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QR Codes - Those black squares with little black boxes inside!
We are starting to see them pop up in advertising, magazines and textbooks. In fact, WATVA has been using them for more than a year now on some of our hand outs and magazine Trail Tales. In case you're not aware of what I am talking about, see the following images:
Spoiler alert! That's the upcoming Trail Tales cover for winter 2011 which is being printed as I type this.
Anyways, the 2nd image is a true QR code. Let's get into the specifics about what they are.
A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) first designed for the automotive industry. More recently, the system has become popular outside of the industry due to its fast readability and large storage capacity compared to traditional UPC barcodes. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be made up of four standardized kinds ("modes") of data (numeric, alphanumeric, byte/binary, Kanji), or by supported extensions virtually any kind of data.[1]
Created by Toyota subsidiary Denso Wave in 1994[2] to track vehicles during the manufacturing process, the QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. It was designed to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.[3]
The technology has seen frequent use in the United States; QR usage is growing fastest in Canada and Hong Kong.[4]
So that's the first two paragraphs from Wikipedia.
What's all the hype about this oversized bar code? It can be read by our cell phones or computers! That's the catch with them. As a side note, my cell phone has an app that can read bar codes from my phones camera, the same method is used for reading QR codes.
That means, any marketing piece that WATVA produces can have a QR code that can be scanned from a cell phone to bring them to a web site that has more information. I can also make the QR code open an email to us, or prompt the user to call us with the included number. There are also many other things the QR code can do.
I actually started seeing them become most popular in the last six months with being printed on price tags at Best Buy. A few weeks ago I used this to bring up reviews of products I was at the store buying. I love reading user reviews, mostly to see what products work out of the box and what products take a little struggle to get working (I don't mind paying less for figuring out technology, but my parents or wife is another story).
Let's run down a start to finish scenario using QR codes.
- A dedicated WATVA member get's his latest Trail Tales magazine in the mail and notices the QR code on a page inside for the TREADY Awards.
- Knowing what QR codes are from reading my blog, the user takes out his cell phone and opens his app (I will link the app I use in the bottom). He points his phones camera at the code and it opens a window prompting him to go to the web site.
- He clicks ok and it opens up the TREADY site.