How to Use QR Codes in Museums and Exhibitions?

Museums carry historical, artistic, and cultural significance, and they’re one of the top attractions worldwide. The museum industry in the US alone is valued at $15.4 billion, and it’s projected to grow steadily over the years. QR codes for museums can help you boost engagement and attract more visitors. 

Most museums rely on tour guides and journey mapping to engage visitors, which aren’t immersive and enjoyable. Museums need to upgrade their technology stack to improve the visitor experience. 

QR codes in museums can take visitor engagement and experience to the next level. Here’s how to use QR codes in museums.

Provide detailed information

Museums are a great place to learn about exhibits and art pieces. Most museums print some information with items to educate visitors. But what if visitors want to learn more? 

QR codes allow you to share information with visitors. You can put a QR code for each exhibit and link to an external URL, like a YouTube video, for more details. You can also link the QR code to a PDF or image gallery. With QR codes, there’s no limit to the amount of information you can share.

For example, the History Museum of Armenia in Yerevan has the oldest leather shoe dating 10,000 years. The museum can put a QR code with the shoe, explaining its history, origin, material information, usage, and development over the years.

Share museum guides

Most museums were previously castles, so they often have a large area with various sections. For example, The Louvre Museum in Paris has an area of 72,735 square meters — the same as the area of a small town.

An individual visitor without a tour guide could find it challenging to explore the entire museum without losing their way. Here’s where museum guides come to the rescue, as they have the complete map of the museum. However, most museums provide physical guides, which could be inconvenient to carry.

Museums can use QR codes to share digital guides with visitors. For example, The Louvre can put a PDF QR code at the entrance, enabling visitors to download the guide as a PDF. If they feel lost, they can refer to the guide to find directions.

Increase social activity

Post-visit engagement is crucial for museums, and social media is the best way to engage people after their visit. Many museums have a good presence on social media, such as The Louvre Museum with 30k+ Instagram followers and the Vatican Museums with 230k+ Instagram followers.

Museums can use QR codes to promote their social media profiles. You can place a social media QR code on the museum premises or the entry pass, and visitors can scan the code to find you on social media. 

You can also use QR codes to promote social media campaigns. Museums often conduct social events where they incentivize users for taking pictures in the museum and sharing them on social media. With QR codes, you can promote your social campaigns and reach more people.

Provide In-Depth Art Descriptions

QR codes placed beside art in museums and exhibitions provide a direct way to access extensive information about each piece. When scanned, these codes can reveal the artwork’s history, the artist’s background, detailed explanations of the piece’s significance, and even multimedia content like audio descriptions and videos. This approach allows visitors to engage deeply with the art, understanding its context without the need for physical labels or guidebooks.

Connect with the artist/photographer

When QR codes are used in photography exhibitions, they can link visitors directly to the photographer’s commentary about each photo. This allows photographers to share their insights, stories behind the shot, technical details, and the emotions or thoughts they aim to convey with their work. This personal touch enriches the viewer’s experience, making it more immersive and informative by providing a deeper understanding of the photographer’s perspective and creative process.

Collect feedback from visitors

Feedback from visitors can help museums discover inefficiencies and improve the visitor experience. Museums typically collect feedback by asking visitors to fill out a lengthy form after their visit. It’s time-consuming, and most visitors refrain from filling it, making it difficult for museums to collect feedback.

QR codes resolve this hurdle. By placing feedback QR codes on the premises or entry passes, museums can allow users to give feedback easily.

Promote events to increase participation

Museums frequently host events to showcase new artifacts or commemorate historic occasions. QR codes can be a powerful tool for promoting these events and boosting participation. By placing event QR codes throughout the museum, visitors can easily access the registration page with a simple scan. Additionally, printing QR codes on newspapers and flyers helps attract a wider audience beyond museum visitors.

QR codes enable museums to seamlessly promote both in-person and virtual events, making it easier for people to stay informed and get involved.

Promote collectibles and increase sales

A large share of a museum’s revenue comes from selling collectibles. Museums can use dynamic URL QR codes or landing page QR codes to redirect people to their online gift shops. Like event QR codes, museums can promote URL or landing page QR codes across channels to reach a broader audience and get more sales.

Offer augmented reality experiences

The use of augmented reality (AR) in museums is on the rise. With AR, museums can offer immersive experiences to visitors, resulting in improved experience and satisfaction. 

For example, the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris launched the REVIVRE project that allowed visitors to experience extinct animals up close and personal using AR. 

Source – Revivre, les animaux disparus en réalité augmentée – YouTube

Museums and art galleries can use QR codes to make AR experiences more accessible. You can put up AR QR codes to offer instant AR experiences to visitors. 

Creating an AR QR code is simple. Go to AR.js or any other AR library and create a marker for your AR app. Or, you can use default markers like the Hiro marker. 

Once you have the marker, go to QRCodeChimp’s dynamic QR code generator and create a QR code. Upload the AR app marker as your QR code’s logo. 

Your AR QR code is ready. Print the AR QR code and put it in your museum to deliver AR experiences.

Wrap up

Museums can use QR codes to enable digital transformation and provide a more engaging user experience. QR codes are versatile, and you can use them to provide information, share guides, promote collectibles, and more. With immersive experiences in museums becoming increasingly popular, QR codes are an essential tool for museums worldwide.

Do you want to create a QR code for your museum? Sign up for QRCodeChimp to get started.

Frequently asked questions