Q-Codes for VHS’s.

Being in London for over a month now I would be blind not to see that Q codes are all around me.Rather than the novelty they have when I was in Middle East I see them everywhere in London. They’re there ubiquitously placed on the bottom left hand side of everything from billboards to museum blurbs. I can imagine all the angry arguments that design directors would have had when first seeing their compulsory inclusion on meticulously designed layouts.

I can’t help but think in 10 years’ time we’ll shudder in nostalgic horror at Q codes, in the same way that I did when I saw a VHS recorder the other day. There have already been various experiments based on linking websites to objects based on their molecular structure (it has to do with the ions and the light that the objects emit which are akin to an atomized thumbprint).

For the sake of designers I hope this happens sooner rather than later. Seeing ads for ballet companies or 19th century impressionists with a big qcode in the corner seems to make any sort of classical beauty look extremely ugly and brutalist.