QR Codes

You may have seen these little white boxes with funny black shapes inside them popping up on all types of products and wondered what they were. These are commonly referred to as QR codes, which is short for quick response codes. These codes are sometimes called "2D" or "square" codes. They are, basically, a type of barcode.

Instead of simply storing a price, QR codes have the capacity to hold a whole lot of information. And like any barcode you will need a scanner to extract the information. This is where your mobile phone comes in. There are a number of apps (applications) you can download onto your smartphone (such as an iPhone or similar) that will allow you to unlock the information hidden in the QR code. Once you have the app it's as simple as hovering your phone's camera over the top of the QR code and the information is automatically unlocked.

You are then immediately taken to a website that gives you more detailed information on a product or service. It allows companies to interact directly with you and in most instances you'll find the QR code will take you straight to their websites.

The codes are currently being used on product labels (including wine labels), in advertising and for inventory tracking. The potential uses are endless as a way of linking end users to information on the internet.

At Rapid Labels we are able to generate and print QR codes, we just need to know the URL address you'd like to direct users to.

QR barcodes are not controlled by GS1.

Click here to access a pdf from Educause which has more information on QR codes.