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Misuse it and lose it. The good, bad and ugly of QR codes.

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More and more we are seeing the use of QR codes in our daily lives. Are they effective? It all depends on how you use them.  Yes, they are meant to inform, educate and satisfy curiosity, but most importantly they are meant to do so in a convenient manner. This isn't always the case. My own recent encounters with QR codes leaves me shaking my head and frustrated with how some establishments use them.

Some of the best uses I've seen are when they happened to be somewhere you're waiting, and have time to scan and view whatever they have to offer. Such places are a gas station and a restaurant at your table or even your takeout food box or food wrapper. 





However, while there are good uses of QR codes, there are also plenty of bad ones. Not necessarily in terms of design, but more so in how convenient they are to use. I once saw a QR code on a billboard. While it may work for some drivers stopped at the right place and right time, it didn't work for me. I knew I wasn't gonna be able to scan it while driving, so I pulled over to give it a try. No luck. I probably would have had better luck getting out of my car and walking up to it, but there goes the whole convenience factor that goes with having a QR code. Since I couldn't get it to work, I pretty much lost interest in pursuing it at any other time and never came back to try again.





Another instance was when I was in the drive through at a fast food place. Service was slow, so I thought I'd try scanning their QR code to get more details about their current promotion. I noticed that it wouldn't scan from the inside of my car, so I literally had to hang out of my window just to get close enough for it to register. On another visit that same restaurant had a poster up near the ordering counter – much easier to scan without hassle.





Magazines continue to be an effective medium for displaying QR codes. More often than not, if you have time to browse through a magazine, you probably have time to check out a QR code as well. And if you're not at the checkout line while doing so, chances are you have even more time to utilize them than normal.



Need that extra push before diving into a big purchase? Maybe there's a QR code nearby to help you with any last minute research that could be very useful in you pre-purchase decision making. I once was on the fence about buying a pair of running shoes when lo and behold-- there was a QR code printed on the fabric inside the heal part of the shoe. Convenient? Yes. Informative? No. All it did was lead me to their facebook page which had no information on that particular shoe at all. They surely could have put these QR codes to better use, especially with something this convenient.


When used correctly, QR codes can be a very efficient means of conveying (or continuing) a message. Making it convenient for your viewer to want to scan it is the first step, holding their attention once you accomplish that is the next. With something as optional as a QR code, once you lose the viewers interest, there is a good chance you'll lose them completely.

If you're gonna use it, use it right!



- Joel Penos

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