Here’s a piece I designed for Newsweek. Very basic, but take note of the barcodes that I circled in red. They are an important design element of the piece. It makes the form worth something more. It’s saying this is a special access form, and your so lucky to have received it. BTW, the barcodes are just art that plays no role other than decoration.
Nice Meryl. I’m always trying to persuade our clients to utilize the faux bar codes because they can make the recipient feel more exclusive. Do you have any insights for preventing them from being deleted from a design? Any statistics on a campaign that tested using/not using a faux bar code?
Hi Lou,
Exclusive is the perfect word to describe faux bar codes. I don’t know of any tests, since my clients are all in agreement that these bar codes are effective in increasing the response rate.
Nice design, Meryl. The bar code does lend a certain air of exclusivity – especially since it’s positioned so near the expiration date. It sort of makes the recipient want to mail it back before then. :D
Glad I met you last night. This looks like a really helpful blog.