Strategies and guidelines for the aesthetic design of QR codes in advertising

Abstract

QR codes are sometimes used as a vital component of digital marketing strategies that seek to attract consumers' attention by converting their dull, black-and-white, checkered appearance into attractive designs. However, as changes to their visual appearance can lead to scanning failures, an understanding of the technical requirements and limitations of this technology is essential in order to develop a viable creative strategy. To this end, a semi-systematic review of the literature was carried out for the purpose of gathering information on possible strategies for enhancing QR codes without compromising their functionality, and to provide guidelines for manually customising these codes in a way that is effective. The aim of this paper is to reveal the amount of research that has focused on the relationship between the aesthetic characteristics of QR codes and their advertising effectiveness. The main findings include a scarcity of scientific analysis regarding this issue, yet multiple opportunities for the artistic modification of QR codes due to recent advances in generative artificial intelligence.