On October 7th, the humble barcode turned 70. Now a common sight in our everyday lives, the barcode has come a long way since it was first patented in 1952. At the time, it was one of the earliest bridges between the physical and digital worlds and continues to be a landmark design that underpins modern retail.
Its legacy is clear to see. One-dimensional barcodes are still the most commonly used technologies in retail, appearing on almost every product in every store and even used as a tool for couriers to fulfil online orders. Two-dimensional versions – think QR codes – have been the obvious successor, able to convey additional information and found in a litany of places, like on boarding passes and in our phones as proof we’ve been vaccinated.
Anywhere where digital information needs to be packaged up in a convenient and recognisable way, you’ll probably find a barcode or its lineage.
It’s interesting how something so simple can be so enduring. Ask me to name a piece of tech that will be relevant in another 70 years, and I’d be hard pressed to give you an answer, but I’d bank on the barcode being one of them. It’s one of the most widespread methods for enabling computers to recognise real world objects, and I don’t see anything replacing it any time soon.
While image recognition is slowly but surely getting better, until it can match the speed, reliability and ease with which barcodes can be scanned it will have to remain as an alternative, not the standard. Even Amazon, at the forefront of retail innovation, uses barcodes to enable its checkout-less Fresh stores.
They’re also incredibly recognisable, an often underappreciated aspect of great design and tech. They may appear simple, but as soon as we see one, we know what it does and how we are supposed to use it. Brands might change the colour of the bars or the shape the code takes to fit their packaging or aesthetic, yet they remain instantly identifiable.
Even if (or when) image recognition improves to the point where it functions as well or better, the barcode will be difficult to replace entirely. Sometimes brands want a product to have a wholly unique identity and the barcode represents longevity.
With the line between the physical and virtual world blurring more by the day, particularly as the metaverse expands and mixed reality is presumed to become more popular, expect the barcode to remain a key link between the two.
Picture getting detailed nutritional information transmitted to your smart glasses whilst grocery shopping, or being able to join virtual meetings by scanning a QR code. You know a bit of tech really works when it can’t be replicated or replaced no matter how much money and engineering is thrown at it. And yet, in the barcode we have a technology that’s remained virtually unchanged for longer than the polio vaccine has existed, outlasting far more splashy and technically impressive innovations.
Some tech is destined to live forever, like sliced bread or the wheel. Maybe the barcode is set to enter those hallowed ranks someday, if it hasn’t already. Either way, there’s one thing I can say for certain: I’ll see you when it turns 100.
