An edited version of this paid-for post appeared at Moo.com on the 7th of June

QR codes are awesome! I mean, you may think your moo mini-cards are pretty funky - but they're nothing without a QR code.

Why do you hand your card over to someone? You want the recipient to plug your contact details into their address book, right? So you give them a bit of card and then you expect them to tap away on their phone, like a primitive ape, until they've saved your number. And hope they've saved it correctly.

That's just so.... analogue... Isn't there a better way of doing things?

Yes. Yes there is. QR Codes are here and they are going to ROCK YOUR WORLD!

Introducing QR Codes

QR Codes are two dimensional barcodes which can quickly and easily be scanned by most camera phones. They're free to create, easy to use, and they look like this. Go take a look in your phone's app store - you'll find several free readers. If you can't, point your phone to GetReader.com to see what's available for your device.

QR Codes can contain many different types of data - URL, phone number, SMS, and vCard. I'm going to show you how you can integrate these into your Moo Cards.

URL

With a QR code on your Moo Card, you can point people straight to your blog. To your .tel website. Or any other site you like. Perhaps to search Twitter for your hashtag?

Phone Number

Scanning in this code will prompt your phone to give me a call. Why not leave me a message?

SMS

Want someone to scan your card and send you a message? Dead easy.

vCard

Scan this code and my address will appear in your phonebook as if by magic One thing to note is that these QR codes are rather large - it's probably best to print them on full size cards.

Putting It All Together

Here are some of my cards. I've used free or Creative-Commons images of phones and placed the QR code inside them.

Resources

There are several free sites you can use to create your QR Codes. I recommend using QRstuff to generate these codes. You can also use Google Charts for QR Codes if you want dynamic, highly customised codes. Finally, if you want to generate QR codes on your own site, there are several free resources. I use Swetake's QRCode v0.50.

Final Tips

Here are some tips to make sure you get the most out of your QR codes.

• Use black ink on a white background to ensure the code is readable.
• Ensure there is some whitespace around the code.
• If you resize the QR codes, don't use any interpolation.
• QR Codes can have variable error-correction. Unless your codes are likely to get dirty, you can set this to "low".
• If you're pointing people to a URL, make sure it's mobile friendly.
• Make sure your phone numbers are in International Format (+44 for the UK).
• Be creative! QR Codes are appearing on everything from advertising posters to urban graffiti - make sure yours stand out.

Click for Full Size

Moo Cards seem to be the darling of the UK tech scene. Cute business cards which you can personalise with whatever you like. Some people are boring and use company logos, others dump their best flickr images on there.

Me? I'm all about phones and QR codes, so.....

Considerations

• Find some free templates or stock photos of phones you want to use.  I've used a Nokia 6680, two generic phones (roaylty free from Clker) and a Nexus One (from Mike Clarke).  Choose phones which are relevant to your industry.
• Make the images the correct size.  Mine are 873 * 378px at 300dpi.  The more detail in your images, the better they'll look.
• QR codes need to be readable - make sure there's plenty of white space around them.
• The data in the QR code should be simple - the shorter the better.  The less information there is, the simpler the code will be, and the quicker it will scan.  Mine points to https://shkspr.mobi/card

Feel free to use the above as a template - don't forget to add your own QR code, not mine!  You can use my free QR generator.