QR Code New Year's Card

QR code New Year's cards feature printed QR codes that recipients scan to access video messages, photo slideshows, or family update pages. Because the card only needs a QR code pointing at a URL where the video or photos are hosted, it can be produced either as an option offered by a card-printing service or with a QR code you generate yourself.

Memories from the past year that won't fit on paper can be shared through videos and numerous photos. Particularly popular for sharing children's growth with distant relatives and friends. It combines paper's warmth with digital richness as an everyday QR code application.

The first decision is whether the destination needs to stay changeable. A static QR code carries the URL directly, so it cannot be repointed once printed, and the video or photos have to be in their final location before the cards are mailed. With a dynamic QR code, the linked content can still be updated after the cards have been sent. On the printed side, place the code in a margin where it does not overlap the address or the New Year's greeting, and check the colors so that the card's background tint or pattern does not weaken the contrast of the code. Because New Year's cards are sometimes kept for years, choosing where to host the content on the assumption that the code may be scanned long afterwards avoids the case where the code still scans but the page is gone.