27 May, 2008

Creative barcodes

Barcodes obviously need to be functional, incorporating a machine-readable block of thick & thin straight lines and a human-readable serial number, but they don't have to be utilitarian.  As such firms as D-Barcode* demonstrate, it's entirely possible to incorporate the essential elements into a more creative graphic element, such as a waterfall, apron or even a pizza.

Dark Roasted Blend has a gallery of interesting examples, including highlights of D-Barcode's work, plus the use of barcode motifs in other areas of design.

Oh, and there's one on every page of the Ministry, disguising a functional image (which doesn't otherwise suit the site design) since 2001.

*: The D-Barcode website is in Japanese, and text is presented as graphics, defeating online translation; I offer the link as acknowledgement but don't necessarily recommend following it!