Epeus' epigone: QR Codes: bad idea or terrible idea?

http://epeus.blogspot.com/2012/01/qr-codes-bad-idea-or-terrible-idea.html

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Epeus' epigone
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SAT U RDA Y , 28 JA NU ARY 20 12

QR Codes: bad idea or terrible idea?

People have a problem finding your URL. You post a QR Code. Now they have 2 problems. Or more:

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They see a chunk of robot barf on your poster, and have to realise it isn't a crossword puzzle, but a QR code. They need to take a digital photograph of it with their phone. If they have a laptop, even with a camera, this requires physical contortions
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They need an application on their phone that can make sense of a QR code. They need a lot of patience as they fiddle with it. They need a working network connection to resolve it. Conversely, with a URL they could type it in, take a photograph of it and type it in later, or if they have the right app, it will recognise the URL text from the image and make it clickable. That is the irony of this. QR Codes ignore years of research and culture on how to communicate meaning in symbolic form designed to be captured by image processing tools behind a lens. We have this technology. It is called writing. Written language has a set of symbols that are relatively unambiguous, that are formed of curves rather than hard edges making them resilient to noise, and have been market-tested for milennia. QR Codes don't just ignore this, they ignore the relative success of one dimensional barcodes. Notice something about a barcode? It has the number printed on it as well, so you can type it in if the scan fails. QR Codes don't do this, so it's far too easy to put the wrong one in, or fail to replace a mockup. Which is why so many QR codes link to Justin's site instead. The only place you should use QR codes is if you have a dedicated reader for them, like a classic barcode scanner, and a workflow that is designed for this that actually saves time. If you do empirical research on using QR codes for the public, you'll likely see 80% worse performance than text like this museum did. By all means try the experiment and report your results. Put up a QR code and a printed URL and see which gets the most usage. Or listen to others: a majority of our respondents knew more or less what they were for, very few (n=2, or around 7%) were successfully able to use QR codes to

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the bar doesn't scroll well on mobile, true... Kevin Marks 10/20 Why the hell do you have to have that huge annoying bar at the bottom of the window?! We don't all h... More PJ 6/14 I don't really like it much either. A small number of Blogger sites using Friend Connect opt for tha... More Unknown 8/29 Do you truly have a Master's in Physics from Cambridge? I would like to see a WOFF logo actually., S... More Unknown 3/20 hey been a Follower of your Great things via TWiT and Twitter keep us informed and discussing Yoshi-OniiChan 5/22
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2/1/2012 7:29 AM

Epeus' epigone: QR Codes: bad idea or terrible idea?

http://epeus.blogspot.com/2012/01/qr-codes-bad-idea-or-terrible-idea.html

resolve a URL, even when coached by a knowledgeable researcher.[..] A strong theme that emerged which we certainly found entirely unsurprising, but which ought to give genuine pause to the cleverer sort of marketers is that, even where respondents displayed sufficient awareness and understanding of QR codes to make use of them, virtually no one expressed any interest in actually doing so. As Alexis Madrigal puts it: Is it really faster and better to use a QR code that will direct you to part of a marketing campaign rather than getting a broader sweep of information by simply using the browser that you already use all the time on your phone? In the instant cost-benefit analysis I do every time I see a QR code, it has yet to make sense for me to fire up the decoder app I have installed on my phone.

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Posted by Kevin Marks at 09:40 Labels: advice , QR codes , URLs

7 comments:
Rachel Keslensky said... Here's the thing: a QR code is just a hyperlink. That's the best and worst thing about it. Ideally, it's a link to something that couldn't just be typed in on your phone faster or with better accuracy - which, with knowledge of the right programs, means pretty much anything that doesn't end in a .com is ripe for this technique. This idea that QR codes are something the average person doesn't get is ridiculous. Okay, the FIRST time a person sees this, they're going to have questions. BUT once they know what it is, and have the right app on their phone (Google Goggles for Android works best for me!), things speed up and become much faster. The real problem is how they are IMPLEMENTED by designers, not received by users. Maybe avoiding them is best for dumb designers, but that doesn't mean they're still not useful -- just that they can't be used without some better judgement.
January 28, 2012 10:10 AM

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Erik Gable said... While QR codes are often clunky and hard to use now, I imagine that will change. Once it gets to the point where 95% of cell phone owners can point their phones at a code, hit one button, and get to the content instantly -- as opposed to going through the far too many steps I have to go through to scan a code with my phone now -- they'll be a lot more useful.
January 28, 2012 1:01 PM

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jjc said...

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2/1/2012 7:29 AM

Epeus' epigone: QR Codes: bad idea or terrible idea?

http://epeus.blogspot.com/2012/01/qr-codes-bad-idea-or-terrible-idea.html

But image processing is good enough nowadays that there's really no point to having QR codes anymore. If you can pull out your camera & snap a photo of a QR code, you can pull out your camera & snap a photo of a URL. It should be pretty straightforward to write an application that looks for what appears to be a URL (whether in alphanumeric, or straight numeric IP address format) and asks you if you'd like to view the result in your web-browser. So, any value (other than possible aesthetics) that comes from using QR codes could just as easily be gained through image processing of URLs.
January 28, 2012 2:54 PM

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The Digital Narrative said... QR codes are problematic in some ways, I'll agree with that. There are limitations, and some of the promotional applications of the codes are incredibly short sighted. QR codes at the bus shelter was a classic example. Having said that, my kids know what they are, and clammer to scan them when we see one. Regardless of the subject matter. In addition, as a teacher, I've found them to be very handy. I'm currently using them with a new resource I've built with for my students www.feedbackbadges.com ... it's an experiment in their usefulness, as well as encouragement and motivational awards. Kids love them. So I do think they have their limitations, but they ARE eye catching, inspire some inquiry, and in the classroom engagement. Finally, they have been around for years now, and show no sign of disappearing. Clearly, they are working in some applications. Cheers Martin Jorgensen www.martinjorgensen.com @mnjorgensen
January 29, 2012 12:01 AM

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dph said... QR codes are not just for URLs - you can include other details in them like contact details etc or a text "more info" explanation neither of which do you need a network connection for. If you're just using them for a URL, sur include the URL as text too. No reason to slate this as a "bad" innovation.
January 29, 2012 3:09 AM

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markjdaniels said... I think the point of a QR Code is being missed here. Outside of commercial uses (product tracking etc.) QR Codes are powerful marketing tools that are squarely aimed at the smartphone generation. QR apps such as QR Pal create a diary of codes scanned, so they can either link straight to the page or choose to be stored for the user to call up later. Most QR code readers are also much quicker than an app that

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2/1/2012 7:29 AM

Epeus' epigone: QR Codes: bad idea or terrible idea?

http://epeus.blogspot.com/2012/01/qr-codes-bad-idea-or-terrible-idea.html

needs to use optical character recognition to decipher text and then automatically recognise it as a URL. Used in the correct context, I think QR Codes are hugely valuable marketing tools. In my business, the bottom of our menu says in clear text "visit our Facebook page at ... or use your smartphone to scan this QR code and check in to let us know you're here." Clearly, different users are going to view such tools in different ways. The next generation of adults are smartphone-centric and QR codes will be second nature to them, but marketers still need to be mindful of the users who don't have such devices or who don't understand the technology and ensure there is a clear marketing message for them, too.
January 29, 2012 4:55 AM

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Paul Simbeck-Hampson said... I've added some comments and links on this G+ post. https://plus.google.com/u/0/109581870574956225297/posts /AA7zwime4qn
January 29, 2012 5:20 AM

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About Me
KE V I N M ARKS

Kevin Marks works at Salesforce as VP of Open Cloud Standards. From 2009 to 2010 we was ay BT as VP of Web Services. From 2007 to 2009, he worked at Google on OpenSocial. From 2003 to 2007 he was Principal Engineer at Technorati responsible for the spiders that make sense of the web and track millions of blogs daily. He has been inventing and innovating for over 17 years in emerging technologies where people, media and computers meet. Before joining Technorati, Kevin spent 5 years in the Quicktime Engineering team at Apple, building video capture and live streaming into OS X. He was a founder of The Multimedia Corporation in the UK, where he served as Production Manager and Executive Producer, shipping millionselling products and winning International awards. He has a Masters degree in Physics from Cambridge University and is a BBC-qualified Video Engineer.One of the driving forces behind microformats.org he regularly speaks at Conferences and Symposia on emergent net technologies and their cultural impact. View my complete profile

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Epeus' epigone: QR Codes: bad idea or terrible idea?

http://epeus.blogspot.com/2012/01/qr-codes-bad-idea-or-terrible-idea.html

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