Newell Turner Is My Hero

If you don't know who Newell Turner is, he happens to be the Editor in Chief of House Beautiful Magazine. In a recent piece written by Mobile Marketer, Mr. Turner is quoted as saying, "Most QR codes look like digital barnacles on the pages of a magazine. They disrupt, some would even say destroy the visual experience of the printed page. The beauty of our Digimarc program is that the QR code is basically invisible. It's embedded in the image or even behind the text on pages of the magazine."

Now don't get me wrong here. It's not that I'm completely anti-barcodes, but in some cases — like in House Beautiful — it just doesn't make sense. For premium brands who take great pride in the beauty of their layouts and design, who painstakingly track and kern the type, adjust the leading, color correct each pixel to perfection (and you know who you are), why would you then add what Turner views as a "digital barnacle" to the design?! Especially when there is an alternative like digital watermarking.

I've been privy to what's coming up in the magazine and can't wait for the fall issues. Be sure to check them out and enjoy the pages come to life like never before, from the elegance and beauty of their printed pages.