Insider posted yesterday on QR codes and billboards.  Insider thinks QR codes should be used sparingly because they distract drivers.     Insider asked billboard design experts Greg Callaham and Melody Roberts what they think. Greg Callaham is an award-winning graphic designer who has designed over 10,000 billboards in a 30 year career.   Melody Roberts is an award winning Creative Director who has been designing outdoor billboard advertising since 1999. In October 2015, Melody launched Out of Home Creative, an outdoor advertising design firm which designs traditional billboards and digital campaigns, transit shelters and any new non-traditional media as well as provides out of home design consulting and training.

Greg, what are your thoughts on putting QR codes on billboards.

I strongly discourage my clients from using QR codes on any billboard designs. Including them encourages drivers to engage in distracted driving by attempting to scan the code with their phone.

Outdoor advertising faces many challenges from local ordinances to national lobbyists, many painting it as a menace to be fought. Why add weight to that argument?

I’ve yet to have a client overrule my recommendations, or even push back, when I point out the potential hazards to the public and the possibility of implicating the outdoor company or the advertiser in potential litigation resulting from an accident caused when a motorist attempted to scan the QR code.

Many actually expressed their thanks once they understood I was protecting them by deleting the QR code from the design.

Melody, what’s your take on QR codes and billboards?

I’ve been designing primarily non-transit outdoor advertising since 1999 and in that time, I’ve had only one client request a QR code on their interstate billboard (and I persuaded them not to do it). Currently my clients include several national transit-specific outdoor companies and none of them suggest QR codes to their clients, instead they advise advertisers to embrace proximity oriented technologies such as Beacons and Geofencing. If QR codes were to work anywhere it would need to be in a densely populated area.