automatic business cards

QR code has been about for some time and it's now an extremely common method of advertising in Japan. It's an odd medium though and a very impersonal part of the unsettling leap, certainly for the uninitiated, into another era. This is what I thought when I first came to Japan and saw QR my only thought was 'what the hell is that?' - the code in some adverts being very large (you take a picture with your mobile and the browser directs you to the campaign website of the company in question). My new business card, which before was my URL which had to be manually typed, is now just a Quick Response link to my website/email address in your mobile browser. The picture is centred so your thumbs go either side (as per offering and receiving a business card with two hands in Japan) which is probably ironic as you can't read it. Business cards are fascinating to designers as there are so many possibilities. I still enjoy writing something on a card to make the person receiving feel special - like a cell phone number.