This project was completed in early 2011 at Baidu. The goal was to warm up the atmosphere before the newly designed browser went live. An official account special for the browser’ spread was built on WeChat. The generated QR Code had been planned to be put on the website five days before the release in order to attract more followers.

Challenge

The most difficult challenge was to balance the scanning rate and creativity. So much time was invested on understanding how a QR code works, how to simplify the standard QR code, and determining what kinds of colors could be used for scanning.

Solution

A backup plan was still developed and put in place though the process had been tested on different devices many times. When clicking the hot air balloon on the right, the original QR code will appear with the rising of the balloon. The text below the balloon is a guide which states: “Click me if you fail to scan.”

The design of the logo was intended to communicate the idea of traveling.  To accomplish this, the details of the QR code feature several hot air balloons utilizing expressive colors of green, yellow, and red.

Result

• 2000+ followers in 5 days
• The recognition from team and I held a design sharing session to introduce the QR code principles, ideas and design details. Some college students imitate the design to build their own website at that time.