Scan me! Barcode and QR interactive tattoos

Tattoo artists are constantly searching for a fresh and original ways for their clients to express themselves- and to stand out.  New inking trends include light up tattoos and research  into color changing and even emotion-sensing tattoos.

Barcode and QR tattoos started as a bit of an underground movement, sometimes to make some sort of philosophical statement about numbers, databases and general consumerism, or perhaps for their inherently ambiguous meaning prior to reading and (then) edginess due to their then rarity and cyber-crossover quality.
 

Classic barcode reads "Joe",
 the bearers name 

Newer QR tattoos are able to store much more information than the simple barcodes that started the trend. These barcodes are readable by any iPhone or QR scanner. The embedded information can be text, a URL or any other data.

Taking this one step farther tattoo artist, on June 16, 2011, Paris-based tattoo artist Karl Marc realized the world’s first animated tattoo which was featured in a You Tube video as part of a Ballantine's Whiskey advertising campaign. Scanning the tattoo makes it "come alive" with and animation that plays on your phone for a truly original effect.

Video of Animated Tattoo

Another artist developed a tattoo that touts itself as ‘the first random tattoo in the world,’ This tattoo generates random content every time it's scanned by a smartphone.

Perhaps, more usefully,  someday we can easily change the QR code tattoo to contain whatever information would be most useful at that moment as sort of an ultra-portable source of personal data.  For instance you could have your dental  records available when you visited  a new dentist for them to scan to saving filling out new patient forms, or keep emergency medical information such as blood type and drug allergies and medical history  literally "on" you at all times in case of an accident .

Scan me! A new way to give out your contact info

As a social connector, your contact information could be scanned by new friends to instantly allow them to follow and link up with you on various social media.  Indeed, one might no longer hope to get the traditional phone number in a club and instead aim to be offered to scan their tattoo.

 Barcode tattoos:Now old-school interactivity
(seen here in the form of  affordable
low commitment temporary tats)

Safeguards against security and privacy concerns, as well as the potential misuse of this technology as a way for governments to control, "brand", trace or segregate populations for their own purposes may be something that needs to be considered carefully as it becomes more available.

Video for the first random QR video