QR Codes Under Your Skin?

I don’t know about you, but I have been seeing QR codes, or Quick Response codes, more lately. It’s not like QR codes are something new, but I didn’t really notice them being used a lot till recently. Some people in my circle of friends online even use QR codes for their profile picture. We’ve also heard about the use of QR codes on tombstones in Japan. Now what about getting a QR code tattoo?

French tattoo artist K.A.R.L. is supposed to be the first guy ever who takes on the job of tattooing a QR code on another person. He did so on the 16th of June this year, with the entire world watching. Well maybe not the entire world, but those who were watching the live stream. The event was basically a marketing gig sponsored by Ballantine, falling in line with the company’s “Leave the Impression” campaign.

The tattoo features a QR code embedded in the middle of flowers and cogs.

Now that sketch may not seem much, but after seeing the process (albeit with lots of scenes cut out) and the finished product, one will not be able to help but appreciate the idea. Wondering where the QR code tattoo will take you? Watch this.

Is it just me or does the guy with the QR code tattoo look like the singing guy in the animation? Oh, and I tried to scan the QR code in the sketch but it wouldn’t work. Can you try and see what happens?

Here’s another QR code tattoo, which seems to have been done even before K.A.R.L.’s singing project.

So this QR code tattoo is simpler – no flairs at all, but I think it does hold a lot of meaning. Why don’t you grab your phone and scan it? ((For those who do not have a QR code scanner or simply cannot be bothered to scan, it says “Hold On” – the song by Good Charlotte.))

I think getting a QR code tattoo is a cool idea, but if you don’t like “real” tattoos, you can also get temporary QR code tattoos for fun at Barcode Art. Now I can easily see Wolowitz and Raj wearing these tatts as they prowl the bars.