What’s a QR code –  or a Quick Response Code to give it it’s full name?

I kept seeing these little scrambled black and white boxes – on wine labels, on DVDs, on Billboard Ads… And because I didn’t know what they were – I started seeing them EVERYWHERE – I felt it was too late to ask anyone – did everyone know except me?  How stoopid would I look, not knowing what a QR code was at this late stage of the game?

After a bit of snooping around I found out. So, for the very few of you out there who don’t know…. It’s basically a graphical way to store a lot of data in a small place and then package that data up so that it can be transferred and read somewhere else. I thought that was a bar code? Well it is… but a QR code is better than a bar code. Wikipedia says: “A QR code is a two-dimensional matrix barcode that is readable by QR scanners, mobile phones (smart phones like Android, iPhone, Blackberry, etc.), and cameras. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other information, up to thousands of characters, depending on the type of data.

A subsidiary of Toyota created them in 1994 to enable storage and high-speed transmission of lots of information, initially designed to track car parts.  As it is an open technology, companies and individuals today can create and use QR codes for multiple functions, including retail-oriented applications aimed at consumers, known as MOBILE TAGGING on your cell phone”.

So, you’re in the Off Licence and you see a bottle of wine with a QR code on the label and you want to find out more about the terroir – easy peasy – using your mobile phone you “tag” the QR code and you’re on a specific website with detailed information. Now sit back and think of all the things you could do with this technology. It’s big in Asia – Fad or Future? Waddda think?

Found this image over on http://labelling-adhesives.com/