One of the interesting things about technology is that it allows us to take what used to be mass media back in the 20th Century and re-make it as interactive media today.
Case in point: QR (Quick Response) codes. You may not have heard the term but you’ve definitely seen QR codes around. They’re those things that look like a bar code, but when you point a smart phone (with the right app) at them and take a picture, the QR code causes your phone to automatically go to a web site where you can get more information.
Those free Metro newspapers you get in the subway system are full of QR codes, allowing a reader to get further details about a given story on the spot (essentially making the paper interactive). There are QR codes on t-shirts and on plaques at historic landmarks.
Put a QR code on your product and you have the ability to provide helpful information (or a sales pitch) to a consumer in real time. Put a QR code on a poster, and that poster becomes a digital medium, literally stopping people in their tracks if they choose to interact with the message.
Today’s link shows how someone took the idea even further – turning the entire front of a building into one giant QR code. People outside the building can use their smart phones to reveal what’s going on inside and access the occupants’ twitter feeds.
The point, of course, isn’t the execution (although it is kinda cool from an artistic sense). Rather, it’s that it’s easy to add interactive elements to things we’re already creating for our clients, like outdoor.
Here’s the link, with a video showing the building in action.
Bonus link – other uses for QR codes.
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