Books are sold on their cover art and several have featured barcodes including "The Bar Code Tattoo" and "Bar Code Rebellion" both by author Suzanne Weyn, "Jennifer Government" by Max Berry, and "Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America" by Kalle Lasn. Japanese pop star Namie Amuro has a barcode tattoo of her birthdate (19770920) on her wrist. For example, heavy metal band Slipknot is famous for their barcode tattoos and prison jump suits. Different things to different people but they have weight.īarcodes as visual images have seeped into mass media. Like corporate logos they "mean something". Immediately recognizable, they're glyphs, used by street artists and tattoo artists alike. Recognition without comprehension.īarcodes have become contemporary visual memes. No one really knows how they work but everyone recognizes them. ![]() We may not focus on them but everyone knows what they are. Why? Because barcodes have entered the collective visual vocabulary. To some, barcodes are the Mark of the Beast, to others signs of creeping Big Brother-ism. We often forget that they're just black and white patterns scanned by machines which translate them to 1's and 0's. In fact some see them for more than they really are, imbuing them with connotations far exceeding their intended use as auto ID glyphs. In some ways this makes sense given that barcodes are made to be read by machines, not people.īut see them we do. When was the last time one caught your eye or sparked a conversation? Barcodes are so common that we don't notice them any more. In spite of their prevalence, they're all but invisible to most people. They're on every item destined to be scanned at a cash register, on most US mail, on cartons and shipping boxes, your luggage at the airport, all UPS and FedEx packages, and the list goes on and on. ![]() So much so that most of us see them without actually looking at them.
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