Just how transparent are your QR codes.

And I do mean literally as can be seen below. It's a bit like hiding QR codes in plain sight.

Transparency allows the QR codes to blend in with the surrounding and not being 'so loud'. On the left is a normal code with the standard black and white colours as all good bar-codes should be. As we move to the middle both the background and foreground colours have been adjusted with opacity and the transparency allow the background to 'shine' through. The image on the right is a perfect test pattern as I found that only the latest versions of QR code readers will decode it.

Did you know that most of the on-line QR code generators of QR4 and 0D0A support transparency and opacity.

Making transparent QR codes.
Each QR Code generator has a colour management components that resembles the image below. Here the current background and foreground colours are shown.

By clicking on the colour button a colour dialog display is opened and here is where the fun begins.

At the bottom of the panel the radio-button "A" (Alpha channel) should be selected this exposes the transparency and opacity settings which can be typed in as a percentage or the slider can be used to make it more or less transparent. The checkerboard pattern shows how transparent or opaque you colour is. Basically that is all there is too it. One golden tip when working with transparency and QR Codes is test, test, test and test again. Also of interest may be the previous article on working with colours and QR codes, before you get stuck into transparent codes.

If you have any questions regarding the use of colour and transparency with QR codes, please contact us.

Colourful QR Code solutions with QR4.

Using colour to create more attractive QR codes could be the trigger for it to be scanned or not by making the QR code stand out from the crowd.

Normal QR code	QR code with colour	Contrasted QR code	Colourized QR code

Other advantages are making the QR codes match company colour schemes to make it blend into the documents or media it is printed on for a more professional 'look and feel'. There are a few important things to keep in mind when using colours with QR codes because not all colour combinations will work, and even if some do, they may not work on older mobile devices or outdated QR Code Apps.

There is a very good reason QR codes are black and white, the reason is contrast. The bigger the difference in colour between the background and the data elements, the better is it to read. When it comes to the ultimate contrast, you cannot get better than black and white. Any other colour combination will have an effect on the contrast and thus the ability for scanner applications to read it successfully.

The golden rule when working with colours is to keep the background and foreground colours contrasting each other as much as possible. To do this we need to determine which colours 'oppose' each other and for this we can use a colour wheel.

Below is the QR code colour wheel, where 'S' is the start and 'E' is the end colour. The idea is try and choose an ending colour that is 180 degrees from your starting colour, as this should give the best results. As you choose ending colours closer to your starting colour, the contrast becomes smaller and this will effect the ability for applications to read your QR code successfully.

Wait, we are not finished yet!

This is about QR code scanner applications and the developers who build them as well as mobile devices with camera's.

Unfortunately not all mobile phone camera's are of the same quality and even more so for QR code scanner application developers. To date there are hundreds of different QR code scanners for mobile phones that can be downloaded for 'free' from a variety of on-line application stores. Our findings are that most of them lack severely in the ability to decode QR codes correctly. So do not 'just download the first best app you find!'

Having said this, I am assuming that the developers do honour the ISO specification for QR codes, and here it is clearly stated it should (must) be black and white. So who is at fault if your colour QR code cannot be read, you are !

The good old times of QR codes

Older mobile devices like my 'mini-fridge' Nokia N95 that came with pre-installed qr code readers use a trick that is still used by developers today, although it should not be required anymore....Let me explain, it's called being colourblind and this has a big impact on the ability to detect and decode QR code images.

In the past storage and processing on mobile devices was a lot more limited than the smart devices of today and some cleaver tricks were developed to make this work for QR code scanners. They used image conversion from colour to black and white before processing the image. Why? Because black and white images are digitally smaller because each pixel does not have any colour information. Because the image was smaller it could be processed faster. Today this method is still in use with some readers and this has a whole new influence on our colour wheel.

Suddenly we can see why some QR code readers may not be able to read the QR codes if we take into consideration the requirement for 'maximum contrast' we can clearly see that the selections of colours we can use in the 'colour world' could bee seen as the same 'shade of gray' in the 'black and white world. If we want to make colour QR codes for a 'black and white world' our colour contrast selection becomes even more limited.

Acoording to the specifications

QR codes should be black and white only, so taking our colour wheel and converting it to black and white based on a 50% conversion threshhold we see how a single bit image processor would see the colours. 

The good news about colour QR codes

As new generations of smart phones are replacing the older mobile devices in the market, the problem of gray-scale QR code interpretors should become less, but until the day that all smart-phones have perfect camera's and developers write ultimate intelligent QR decoding software and applications, this developer will still always test the QR codes with old legacy decoder systems. As final itam and maybe the most important tip is to always test the QR codes you create as best you can with different QR reader applications and with different types of smart-phones. Just because it works on your device is no guarantee it will work for everyone.

Colour QR Code generator list

• Website URL
• Send Email
• SMS message
• Direct Calling
• Contact Information
• Text Message
• WiFi Access
• Branding and personalization
• Geo location

Most of the QR code generators here at QR4 support the use of colour and other advanced features such as transparency and opacity. You are welcome to test generating QR codes in colour for yourself. Remember that the secret to success is to test your QR codes thoroughly. Should you have any comments, questions or need advice about using colour with QR codes, please contact us.

How to loose clients and alienate prospects using QR codes

A real world example. In this example the company 'Bord Bia' thought it a good idea to use QR codes to help promote the Irish Food Board in the form of a competition to win a Weber gourmet barbecue and make use of QR codes.

Looks promising, so what is wrong here! It starts when you take the trouble to take out your mobile phone and scan the QR code. The first problem is it breaks the first commandment for QR code use: Though shalt not send a mobile phone to a regular web page that is not mobile phone friendly. But wait, it get worse.... Is it the mad cow disease, or QR code frenzy?

As can be seen, the site is not mobile friendly and the menu on the top left is not usable by a touch screen mobile device. The call to action link is placed well away from other content making it simple to click on with a mobile device, however there is a cruel twist in the tail. The hyperlink to a form that needs to be filled in to be able to participate in the competition does not work on an iPhone at all! You can of course type in the URL as mentioned above the QR code on a desktop computer, and here it does work. Seems such a shame to go all this trouble and create something that has no benefit to anyone, exactly the opposite to what marketing department had in mind (or not).

This is an excellent example of how to use QR codes to show the world your marketing department is running after the facts and is helping to destroy your reputation and goals at your expense.
This unfortunate situation is all too often still implemented by 'marketing professional' and is easily avoidable at minimal expense and with a measurable ROMI (Return On Marketing Investment).

Our advice is to seek assistance from QR code and other new media professionals with tangible proven solutions, before embarking on an ad-hoc QR code  journey where you may end up funding your own demise.

Should you have questions or doubts about using QR codes, need a second opinion, or want a thorough 'once over' before going public with a QR code driven campaign, please contact us. We have a pan European team of creative independent new media professionals who can help create, consult and assist you in getting the results you want with transparent, measurable and affordable solutions that meet your needs. 

The sixties meet modern times as a power company uses QR codes in search of new souls.

 'Hallo Hippie' Flower Power QR Code poster in bus stops around Eindhoven.

The advert offers four months of free 'eco' or 'green' energy if you switch to this power vendor. The energy market is a flux in the Netherlands at present and all the energy providers are trying to win new souls they can sell their power too.  As everything CO² friendly is in these days, this is a big push for power vendors. Whats new here is the use of QR codes. In this particular case a well done campaign.

Benefits for the vendor: A hot prospects contact information.
Benefits for scanning the QR code: Besides 4 months free power, you also receive a solar garden light.

All of this with one simple QR code and two mobile friendly easy to use web based mobile pages. Another good example of how to use QR codes for active marketing purposes.

Cross-media, social media and product promotion meet via QR codes on food product packaging.

QR codes on food products, it's not new, so why feature this one....Because it's well done!

'Lay's' a Dutch chips or crisps manufacturer is using QR codes on their product packaging for promotional purposes. The way they go about it is very clever and many a marketer can learn from this good example that covers all the needed bases required to make a potentially great and successful marketing campaign.

The purpose for the producer: Get as many social media contacts as possible.
The purpose for the consumer: Win free tickets to musical events for four people.
The method: A mobile friendly, easy to navigate, simple and effective website to achieve the goal.

Consumers must link to the manufacturer via a social media channel to be able to participate in the competition. This is a very clever and effective way to reach your consumers by getting them to link to your social media channels. In exchange for this link they offer 'daily prizes' of free tickets to several musical events in the Netherlands that are held during the summer months. This is a great initiative to motivate the younger generation to get connected and potentially go to concerts of their choice for free.

Using QR codes to drive consumers to social media channels with the potential reward of winning tickets to musical events. A smart implementation of QR codes where the benefits are to the advantage of the campaign owner.