QR - the letters that mark creative Cardiff for innovation
To mark the launch of @CreativeCardiff – a showcase for the city’s creative industries, Cardiff & Co is pushing the boundaries in the use of QR codes.
QR codes are a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) first designed for the motor industry. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background and can be scanned with a smart phone to get instant access to websites. For @CreativeCardiff’s launch tomorrow (21st September) QR codes have been used on the floor of St David’s centre – thought to be the first time they have been placed on the ground for scanning from above.
The codes have also been produced in colour for the first time on this scale and have been designed to incorporate the @ sign to link them to @CreativeCardiff. They provide a direct link to the website www.creativecardiff.org.uk
And in a move than acknowledges the contribution of the BBC to the growth of creative industries in Cardiff, a code has been attached to the water tower in Roald Dahl Plass, known as the home of Torchwood.
Andrew Owen, managing director of Genesis Marketing, who intalled the QR codes, said: “Torchwood placed Cardiff firmly on the sci-fi map with its fictional base beneath the water tower. It is fitting that Cardiff & Co bring a real step into the future to the same spot by using QR codes in this way.”
Andrew Owen said he had found Cardiff to be totally receptive to placing the codes in unusual and innovative places.
He said: “It is a tribute to the natural creativity of Cardiff businesses and institutions that they were so ready to take on these ideas.”
As well as the floor of the St David’s centre and the water tower, codes have been placed at UWIC’s School of Management in Llandaff, the Marriott car park in the city centre, above Superdrug in Queen Street and in High Street Arcade.
The picture is completed with another first for Wales – the codes are being projected onto the wall of the Glanfa area of the Wales Millennium Centre, where the Cardiff launch of @CreativeCardiff takes place tomorrow (21st September).
The @CreativeCardiff launch is also supported by banners throughout the city centre.
Richard Thomas, managing director of Cardiff & Co, the company formed to promote the city region to the world, said: “The @CreativeCardiff showcase is designed to bring together partners to create something that can grow in time into something of national and international significance. Its success will rely on a team approach with a number of key partners adopting the @CreativeCardiff identity and using it alongside their own.
“By doing so, they will benefit from increased exposure, while the city-region’s creative community will benefit from its first-ever dedicated and concerted creative industries campaign.
“This is the first step. We are looking to build from modest beginnings, with support from the city-region’s creative businesses and so far, the response has been fantastically positive.”
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21/09/2011
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