Enhance Your Layouts with QR Codes

No Training Wheels! by Neisha Sykes (lavendar)

Here’s a new and exciting way to add videos and other interactive content to your layouts: QR codes!

QR (Quick Response) codes are those funny-looking square barcodes you see in magazines and on packaging. When you scan one with your electronic device, such as a smartphone with a barcode-reader app, you get taken to a link with more information or a coupon. Well, did you know that you can use QR codes on your digital scrapbook layouts to share related videos with friends and family?  No? Until several days ago, neither did I.

My friend Becki linked me up to this post by Jennifer Woodbury where she explains how she used QR codes in her Project Life scrapbook. Becki took this concept a step further by incorporating them on digital scrapbook pages. Both of these scrappers use QR codes to take readers to videos that go along with the events scrapped on their pages. Cool!

I couldn’t wait to share this exciting new way to scrap with you. It’s free, easy, and fun!

Here’s how to do it:

1. Scrap your page as usual, leaving a space for a QR code.
2. Upload your corresponding video to the website of your choosing. I use YouTube.
3. Using the link to your video content, generate a free QR code from a website like Kaywa or Begrious.
4. Once your QR code is generated, right click on the QR code image and select “copy image” to copy it to your computer’s clipboard.
5. In your scrapping software with your layout open, paste the QR code onto your scrapbook page then place it where you want it to be.

That’s it! Pretty simple, huh? Now, no matter if they see your layout on the screen or in print, your loved ones can scan the QR code and view your additional video content.

Want to give scanning a QR code a try? The layout at the beginning of this article is a page I created of my son riding his bike without training wheels for the first time.  Scan the QR code in the image below or click on the title to go to my gallery and scan the QR code there. Once you scan it, you’ll get taken right to my video content. (To protect my family’s privacy a bit, the video has been replaced with one of my flower garden so you can see how QR codes work.)

Portion of No Training Wheels!  by Neisha Sykes (lavendar)

To use a QR code embedded on a digital scrapbook page:

1. Open up a barcode reader app on your smartphone or other electronic device. I use Barcode Scanner for Android, but there are several other apps out there.
2. Scan the QR code using your device’s camera. You can scan them from a printed page or directly on your computer screen.
3. When the app recognizes the QR code, you will be taken to the additional content.

Becki shared some tips with me for adding QR codes to digital layouts, including the following:

• Concerned about privacy? If you want to go the YouTube route with your videos, make sure they are set to Private so that only those with the link or QR code can view them. Or, look into hosting your videos on your blog or in other places.
• Since QR codes won’t be around forever, create two versions of your page: one with the QR code, one without. Then, you won’t have a useless QR code on your page when the technology becomes obsolete. Save your layered Photoshop file and simply turn the QR code layer on and off as needed.
• Try to incorporate the QR code into the design of your page so it doesn’t stand out as much if you don’t like how they look.
• I’d like to add that you don’t have to use QR codes for just links to videos. Why not generate QR codes for blog posts or additional photos related to your page? You could link up to information about a historical site or vacation destination featured on your layout. Really, you can generate a QR code for anything on the web!

It was so fun creating a layout with a QR code on it. And, I’m excited to share my page and the actual video of my son riding his bike without training wheels with my family and friends through Facebook and email. I love this easy new way of sharing our family’s memories!

What do you think about adding QR codes to your scrapbook pages? Share your thoughts, ideas, and tips in this thread in the forum or in the comments to this article.

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