I'm with Kris on this one. But Jacqueline, it's great you're actually putting research and thought into how big they would have to be, etc. It will help you avoid disasters such as these: http://wtfqrcodes.com/

(This response really just a long-winded way of sharing my favorite tumblr...)

Jessica



On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 8:37 AM, Layon, Kristofer <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Lots of creative ideas and thoughts about QR codes, especially this one.  But an important question remains: how often are they used?  Or, are they ever used?

I have never, *ever* observed a person scanning a QR code in the wild, despite the codes being quite common.  And this is in a world where you don't need to go walking for more than 10 seconds to encounter someone using their smartphone.  But not to scan QR codes.  Just an observation.

Kris


http://www.kristoferlayon.com
http://twitter.com/klayon


On Apr 3, 2012, at 1:38 PM, Peter Riemenschneider wrote:

> On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 12:46 PM, Aaron Zirbes <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> Dan,
>> Yep, almost all QR codes these days are encoded URLs.
>> --
>> Aaron
>
>
> Almost - but we're doing something a little different with ours.
>
> The College of Science and Engineering produced a series of posters
> that promoted our majors, with the idea that faculty would staff
> booths and discuss their departments and majors with students.
>
> The idea of QR codes came up, but like it has been mentioned here, I
> thought it was odd to produce a code that just contained a ULR when a
> vanity URL would be easier to produce and remember. So instead, I set
> up the QR code to contain contact information for the department/major
> being visited as an encoded Vcard. I included department name, email,
> web and mailing address, so if the visitors wanted a take-away, they
> could scan the code and put the department info in their phone for
> later reference.
>
> Size of the QR graphic was important - I tested our using my
> first-generation iPhone, which has a (relatively) poor quality camera.
> Given that students might be several feet away from the poster, with
> potentially no ability to zoom, the image needed to be large (8"
> sounds about right) and sufficient white space needed to be around the
> image so as to not confuse the camera.
>
> On a related note, we're currently looking into using digital
> signage/displays for our new building and I've been exploring best
> practices for content and presentation. I've seen some digital signs
> that use QR codes and it always makes laugh. Because the majority of
> displays around campus are mounted at least 7-9 feet high, the size of
> the code graphic isn't large enough to make phone capture even
> possible. And usually in those cases, they are acting as a Web link,
> so a vanity URL would have been a better way to go.
>
> I think there are more useful ways to use QR codes than URLs. For
> example, I recently put a QR code on my personal business card. It
> contains my Vcard info, so contacts can scan it to capture my contact
> info (provided they have the right reader)
>
> Pete
>
> --
> Peter Riemenschneider
> Electronic Communications Manager
> College of Science and Engineering
> University of Minnesota
> Phone: 612-624-2929
> [log in to unmask]
>
> U of M Student Dashboard: For Web, for mobile, for you.
> http://dashboard.umn.edu



--
Jessica Franken
University of Minnesota Extension
Center for Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences
612-625-7017
http://extension.umn.edu