I decided it was time to add some flavor to my resume, and thought that a QR code would be a good addition. QR codes are great and everything, but the standard ones are just too boring, so I decided to customize and personalize my QR code. I crashed my browser earlier, so I don’t have the links for the instructions, but I’ll try and do a follow-up post with instructions. Enjoy.

UPDATE

So, I promised to add the instructions. Here they are:

1. Decide where you want your QR code to take people. It can actually do multiple things (go to a URL, send a text, send an SMS e-mail, call a phone number, etc.), but I recommend having it go to your personal website, blog, or Linkedin profile.
2. You will need a standard QR code in order to start your project. There are tons of websites that will generate QR codes for you, but here’s the one I used:  http://qrstuff.com/
3. You will be able to download an image version of the QR code. Save this to your local hard drive.
4. Open the image in Photoshop.
5. This is the best time to resize the image (if you want to). How you intend to use your QR code will determine how large it should be. If it’s just on your resume, 200×200 pixels will be fine, if it’s going on a t-shirt or a poster, you may want to be closer to 1000×1000 pixels.
6. There are a ton of ways to customize your qr code, but you should remember that they will only remain readable with less than 30% distortion. Trial and error will be the way you determine this.
7. I used a Gaussian Blur to turn the shape from a collection of square blocks to a more smooth design.
8. After the Guassian Blur, you have to use Curves adjustments to improve the definition. Your curve line should almost be a vertical line with the darks all the way down, and the whites all the way up.
9. At this point, you can do whatever you want, as long as you don’t remove the box shapes in the corners or the area in between the boxes – these are used to align the code.
10. I chose to do a color overlay on my design, and then add my picture. It required a lot of messing around to make sure that the code still worked, but with some trial and error, I was very pleased with the final result.

I referenced a few different guides when doing this, but this was the one I found the most helpful:http://www.inspiremonkey.com/2011/09/how-to-create-custom-qr-codes/