The QR Code In Custom Content

Four QR Codes in US Airways Magazine

As the editor of a custom-published magazine, I'm quite curious to see how our introduction of QR codes is received. Many of the tech-savvy readers of US Airways magazine will recognize the funny-looking graphic immediately, but I'm betting most of our readership will wonder what exactly we're up to.

In our October issue, I introduced the presence of QR codes in my editor's notes this way:

"The QR code functions much like the UPC code that's found on most items in, say, a grocery store. QR, for Quick Response, is a matrix bar code created in Japan over a decade ago. Today, its use and popularity has become almost prolific due to the burgeoning population of smartphones. A QR code requires a reader, and some smartphones have one built in. (If yours does not, a quick search on the Internet will offer you plenty of choices ―just download the reader as an app and you're all set.) Scan a code with your smartphone camera and you'll go directly to wherever the code is designed to send you. Whether you use an Android, a BlackBerry, or an iPhone, you'll see instant results."

Although we'll be more ambitious with the use of these codes in our November issue―even placing one on the cover―we're bound to get some interesting feedback in the first week or so of October. With more than 3 million readers, we're anticipating at the very least a response of curiosity.

Our first go-round is simple―the codes in the October issue will link to the magazine Web site, usairwaysmag.com. In the follow-up issue, we'll be placing codes on our site that link directly to the contributing bloggers' posts. If readers like the blogger's expertise on, say, travel, health, wine, food, sports, or technology, they can scan and read more in an instant.

We understand that there is no commercial gain from such an endeavor―we're interested instead to offer a technology with a "cool" factor but also one that almost effortlessly opens more portals to broader reaches.

Posted By: Lance Elko