History of QR Codes

It all started in 1960 in Japan when the country was witnessing its economic peak of that era and retail was in vogue. To help cashiers lessen their manual burdens and improve their productivity, POS systems came into being. It had the price of a product automatically prompted on the cash register when an optical sensor machine was used to scan the barcode of the product. Simple, isn’t it? But it had its limitations.

These barcodes could only hold 20 alphanumeric characters (hence, limited information). With users demanding codes that hold more information containing Kanji and Kana characters also along with alphanumeric ones, DENSO WAVE (a DENSO CORPORATION back then), a Japanese automatic device capture manufacturer, took up the required task.

The company assigned a development team the task of developing a new two-dimensional code that meets the users’ requirements. It was a huge decision in the history of QR Code.

One-Dimensional vs. Two-Dimensional Code

For your understating, one-dimensional code incorporates information in one direction (linear, in terms of a barcode). On the other hand, a two-dimensional (2D) code has information stored in two directions (up-down and across present in a QR code). The latter has the capability of holding more information as well as still being read out easily.

The Initial Development Stage

Masahiro Hara, the development head of this task at DENSO WAVE and an important name in the history of QR Code, decided to go for a 2D code to accomplish their mission. However, there were challenges.

The first challenge was to make the code as fast as possible. So, Hara came up with the idea of creating a position detection pattern with square marks. But why not any other shape? The answer is that the distinctive pattern designed in a square shape is least likely to show on magazines, products, fliers, and other items related to businesses

Secondly, to make code scan even faster, they chose a ratio of this pattern of black and white areas which was 1:1:3:1:1. This width and position detection pattern scheme was capable of being scanned from any angle. Something exactly which we have at present!

QR Code Launch and Attempts for Wider Popularity

The actual and most popular year in the history of QR Code was 1994 when DENSO WAVE released its QR Code (quick response code) with a focus USP of its high-speed reading.

At that time, even Hara and his team were a little pessimistic about the code’s acceptance as a barcode replacement. However, they were still enthusiastic to see users’ and businesses’ reactions to its work.

The first industry that used the QR Code was the auto industry which adopted it for its electronic Kanban. The result was remarkable! The management processes of the industry took speed and high convenience, from production to shipping and more.

Another important phase in the history of QR Code came due to people demanding transparency and traceability in industries’ production. As a result, pharmaceutical, food, and healthcare manufacturers also adopted Hara’s QR Code.

Another reason why this QR code became popular is that DENSO WAVE decided to make it public so that whoever wants to use it can use it. The company has the patent rights to QR Code but it declared that it would not exercise these rights.

So, anyone can use the code without worrying about any licensing fees to the company.

Another important year in the history of the QR code is 2002. It was the period when the code became popular among Japan’s general public. This is the outcome of smartphone popularity. Sounds familiar? The general public of Japan, and later the global public, started using QR codes when businesses marketed its use for different purposes.

QR Code has even won the Good Design Award in 2012 (in Japan) in the Media for Industry category.

Final Thoughts

Earlier, it was used to access a website for coupons and discounts. Later on, as in the present world, the concept of the QR Code has become an everyday task. This is the reason why businesses are relying on efficient custom QR Code generator tools to market their products and brands more and more.