[ale] OT Are you using QR codes on business cards and how

[Ron Frazier (ALE)]

Hi JD,

I don't think it would be a good idea to make the card unreadable by humans without smart phones or tablets. I have seen a few designs like that, but I wouldn't do that. I intend to have all the critical data in text and human readable. The same data would be included in the QR code. I think the best potential feature of the QR code is that it allows the data to be captured quickly or a website to be visited quickly by someone with a smart phone or tablet. Also, the potential exists to embed more data in the code than can be put in plain text although I don't know if I would try that. In my reading, I've found that lots of people use the web link within the QR code to forward through an intermediate website which gives more contact data and links to social networking sites, etc. It occurred to me that you could do that whether you're using a QR code or not. It has the advantage of allowing you to change the data on the website even if what's printed on the card becomes outdated. I like that idea. I think I'll employ this tactic. I just have to figure out which intermediate site to store my contact data on, or whether to set up my own site. I'm not a designer either, so I might look into squarespace.com, which has lots of automated templates. There are free sites to do this, there is always the possibility they could disappear. I may even add another layer of redirection by using tinyurl.com or bit.ly, or maybe both. That would make a smaller and more readable QR code. It would forward squarespace.com, or wherever my other data is stored. If, later, I decide to store my contact data elsewhere, I just have to change the bit.ly link.

Sincerely,

Ron


--

Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail.
Please excuse my potential brevity.

(To whom it may concern. My email address has changed. Replying to former
messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong
address. Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier
770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.
linuxdude AT techstarship.com


JD <jdp at algoloma.com> wrote:

On 06/14/2012 04:26 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I'm thinking about ordering some business cards / contact cards to give to

I'm terrible at design, so I wouldn't pretend to make any suggestions beyond
name, email and company website. Think about the audience for this card and
your resume. What happens if they aren't "hip" to QR codes? Does that exclude
them from the information?
_____________________________________________

Ale mailing list
Ale at ale.org
http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.ale.org/pipermail/ale/attachments/20120614/b1424a71/attachment.html