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QR codes

What are they?

A QR ("quick response") code is a two-dimensional barcode that allows information such as web page URLs and email addresses to be extracted quickly and accurately from printed documents without the hassle of having to type them in with a keyboard or telephone keypad. QR codes are becoming quite popular in Japan, where most mobile phones on the market are now able to read them at the click of a button. Other countries appear to be catching up fast.^[1]

Do I need one on my business card?

Not necessarily. According to the results of a 2007 survey by internet.com and goo research in Japan,^[2] less than 3% of people own a personal or company business card with a QR code printed on it.

Perhaps this slow uptake is partly due to the existence of different standards for encoding address book entries with multiple items of information (name, phone number, email address, and so on). Although it is possible to generate hybrid QR codes that contain multiple address book entries in different formats,^[3] these tend to be rather large due to the amount of data that needs to be encoded.

If you do decide to put a QR code on your business card, my advice would be to keep it simple. For example, just use a plain URL or email address — these are automaticaly converted into links when they are scanned. If you include a URL, don't forget to make sure your website is accessible to hand-held user agents, and consider getting your website translated into Japanese so people can actually read it when they get there. Alternatively, create a page containing all your contact details and put the URL of this page on your business card.

Dimensions

The more data you squeeze into a QR code, the larger it gets. They range in size from 21×21 to 177×177 blocks (or "modules", as they're called), but the largest size readable on mobile phones is 57×57. The amount of data that can be squeezed into a QR code also depends on the level of error correction it employs and the type of data it contains — numeric, alphanumeric, binary or Japanese (kanji and kana). For example, my email address can be carried in a 29×29 QR code, but a hybrid address book entry containing my email address together with my name and Japanese pronunciation guides weighs in at 57×57 modules (see illustration).

According to Denso-Wave (the inventors of QR codes), they can be printed at resolutions of up to 150 modules per inch (0.17 mm per module).^[4] But for practical purposes, it would be better to make the patterns much larger so they can be scanned more reliably by mobile phone cameras. For business cards, I would recommend using a resolution of roughly 60 modules per inch or less.