When NOT to Use a QR Code

With all of the excitement about quick response (QR) codes among print people these days (“See, we’re still relevant in the Internet age!”), it’s easy to forget that they aren’t right for every occasion. A colleague in the magazine industry relates this recent incident:

A customer submitted a print ad with a QR code, which my friend subjected to the “Paranoid Production Manager’s 3 Tests for QR Codes.” (FYI, all good production managers are paranoid.):

1) Is a URL shown with the QR Code? That might not be necessary in countries like Japan where using QR codes is second nature.