Geek Chic: QR Code Patches

First they swept Japan, then Europe, and now you see them everywhere in America. QR Codes use two-dimensional image codes to form a link between print media and the Web. It's a point-and-shoot way of obtaining information, phone numbers, text messages, and Web links by pointing your mobile phone at the code image and having the phone software decode the image and take the appropriate action.

What started as a marketing technique has been used here as a sort of anti-marketing technique. In many thrift stores you will spot otherwise attractive and well made shirts that are permanently marred by heavy duty marketing embroidery—usually on or above the pocket and in some cases on the sleeve. They're often priced even more cheaply than other thrift shirts because, after all, who wants to sport the logo of some defunct dot.com company on their clothing?

Two thrift shirts, about $2 each

The problem: heavy embroidery company logos stitched onto the shirts

The solution? Go to the following URL on the Web—http://www.qrstuff.com/—one among many that generates a QR code for free from any text, URL, phone number, or Google map location you enter. Download the codes, open the images in graphic software (e.g., Photoshop) and resize the image to whatever dimensions suit your project. Remember to reverse the image first, and then print it out onto photo transfer paper. Iron the image onto cloth, then use the cloth to create a patch to cover those unsightly logos.

The QR codes read "eat the rich." You might want to make a notation about what the code says right on the transfer paper so you can keep track of your patches.

The attractively mysterious geek chic results