Print to the Cloud via . . . Designer QR Codes in Japan

Once Print talks to the Cloud and the Cloud talks back, everything changes, again.

Imagine teaching material for High School Kids that had designer QR codes that take them to a pURL to take a quiz on the material. Time stamped, personalized, immediately accessible to teacher and administration.

The under appreciated reality is that every bottom of the pyramid high school kid I've ever met has a neat cell phone and has learned to write on that little keyboard as fast as older people type on a laptop.

From Creativity on Line
A recent design project from Japan infuses contemporary art into ho-hum QR code graphics. To tout Takashi Murakami's ongoing collaboration with Louis Vuitton, Tokyo-based creative agency SET dispensed with the standard black and white pattern and designed a stylized QR code inspired by the artist's work for the fashion brand.

Big in Japan, quick response codes are graphics used to hyperlink physical objects to Web content or multimedia and are often found on posters, billboards and magazines. The Murakami QR code drives traffic to the Louis Vuitton mobile website and, for SET, demonstrates the possibilities of designer QR codes.
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What are the remaining barriers in North America to widespread use of QR codes (for example, cost to users and the lack of standards or preloaded code reading applications)? Is it a technical/infrastructure question or just a mindset question?

I just spent a few weeks in Australia talking up the codes to brands and agencies there and I guess one barrier is the perceived cost. Once flat rate mobile plans become standard, consumers will spend more time browsing and interacting on their phones. The QR code will provide a gateway between the real world and the digital. I saw codes on the sides of buses in Australia promoting movie releases. It was a kid's film and so that is obviously one way the codes will take off abroad. Kids today seem to have no trouble with technology, so a couple of well-promoted examples of youth brand coding will have everyone jumping on the bandwagon and consumers experimenting. Think Ecko tagging Air Force One with a QR code--The next day everyone would know what they are. The technology is there and the consumers are ready. It's up to the brands to make them interesting enough to warrant a click.