Creative and unique uses of QR Codes | Hacker News Reader

Creative and unique uses of QR Codes

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29 pointsmiller_f23 comments

Creative uses of QR codes are cool, but I wonder if misapplication is going to hurt the concept.

I was at a major mall here in South Africa, and a chain store, Woolworths, had a large QR code stuck to its window. I use a low-end Blackberry (a typical phone around here), and I have a few different QR apps installed. Helpfully, the blurb under the QR code even recommended a reader.

Problem was, my camera/app combinations could not read the code. It was large, so I had to step away from the window to get the whole thing in focus. When I tried, people walked in front of me, blocking my view, and something (glare?) confused the readers. I gave up after a few minutes.

Would a better phone have made a difference? Probably. But my phone is quite typical of the type found in the target demographic. People who are exposed to frustrating experiences like mine are going to be put off.

I hope the people who do T shirts, scarves, etc, actually pay attention to the readability of their codes.

Here's someone else blogging on the Woolworths campaign - but unlike him, I doubt we will see much more QR from Woolworths for a while: http://www.marcforrest.com/2011/03/14/woolworths-climbs-on-t...

I guess I don't get it. If somebody shows me information I can't read with my own eyeballs, I have to really care to take the time to read it with a device. When the novelty has worn off, I'm not going to keep beeping my phone at every code in sight. Especially if they mainly turn out to be URLs I could have read in plain English and/or advertisements.

Is this actually useful, beyond the fad's lifespan?

I agree completely, I just don't understand the hype??

I have not seen a situation where I have thought this idea really fits

Someone started putting a QR code on the bottom of their email, I scanned it and it turned out to be a link to their vcard? Why not just put on a link to the vcard?

Pointless to me that!

Some airlines are using QR codes now and it's kinda nice... I did a pre-checkin online, had them text me my boarding pass, got a text seconds later with a QR code and was ready to go. The only thing that sucks is if your phone dies waiting to board your flight.

I think the hassle of typing, versus scanning is the purported advantage. But the advantage is offset because an app needs to be launched.

Are there any devices that can recognise something as a QR code, as soon as it they are switched on?

If you could switch a phone camera on (an easy operation on most phones), and, when pointed at a QR code, it automatically figured out that it was looking at a QR, and decoded it, I think QR codes stand a chance. Otherwise, I would tend to agree with you, at least for consumer consumption.

I think you are right in what you are saying but that means that QR codes would have to be widely adopted to make them native to the device you are looking at them on. And as the other commenter noted, what if the device dies?

Airlines have been using QR style codes for years for bags etc so they can probably find a use for them.

I'm all for advancements in technology but I somehow feel that this is a fad that will pass quite quickly unless they find an actual use for it

For Google IO and SF Music Hack Day we passed out 2x2 flyers to promote our brand new music player for Android. People were intrigued by the design - we had our icon/logo in the middle and our url on the sides:

http://blog.cloud.tv/2011/05/18/1000-installs/

It helped us get our first ~1000 users...

Especially if they mainly turn out to be URLs I could have read in plain English

And what good is reading a URL in plain English?

"Find this device online: {QR Code}" is better than "Visit http://www.example.com/cms/products/industrial?product=09278...

I think billybob is arguing that a short message/url like "Find this device online: www.example.com/device" is better than both "Find this device online: {QR Code}" AND "Visit http://www.example.com/cms/products/industrial?product=09278....

Does anybody have any data, or other opinions, on how well understood are QR codes among the general public? Talking to an unrepresentative sample of business owners (ie, my target clients) over the past few years, and very few (~3 in 50) knew what they were.

Actually quite a timely post, as I was just playing with the QR code for signing up to my newsletter.

Drop in the anecdote bucket: I'd rather type in a URL shortened link than bring up an app on my mobile phone.

Who do you mean by the 'general public'? America? Europe?

The only data point I can give is that they are everywhere in Japan's cities.

Ignoring for the moment that streaming is the future of movie rentals, I recently came across a DVD in a movie rental outlet that had a QR code that was a link to the trailer for the movie. I don't think I'd have watched the trailer if it meant typing in a URL. On the other hand, having watched the trailer, I didn't rent the movie!

I don't know, I've seen my share of QR codes used as design elements and never did I see one that didn't stick out as a sort thumb. Trying to massage them into designs simply ruins latter. It's like green text on red background - fun once, but inherently butt ugly.

"Qrapping paper" sent my mind in the totally wrong direction.

Hey, a new idea! Toilet paper with QR codes on it :-)

Love the business card one, I've been meaning to make business cards with a QR code for a while. For real-world objects with a virtual component, QR codes seem like an interesting solution.

OK, am I the only person not buying into this whole QR code hype??!

Seriously, I just don't get how this has even become so popular? It's a glorified barcode?

I am not big fan of them, but one explanation: mobile phones got decent browsers, but entering URLs still suck. QR codes solve that problem.

I don't get the Thinkstock ad. Why are some of the squares blank?

They're supposed to be stickers. So you peel 4 of them off to make a QR code based on the labels. When you scan it, it shows you a picture combining the 4 words you picked.

I don't think that'd work in real life.

Edit: Yeah, ok, it probably would, they're 4 separate QR codes, not 4 parts combining into one. It was hard to see on the original image.

i.e.: a qr code tattoo (yes ... they are real and no ... they don't rock) http://replycam.com/65326

Well that's just irresponsible.

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