You’ve seen these curious-looking barcodes, called QR codes (“quick response”), popping up lately, especially on advertisements. Have you ever wondered how to create one of your own? Wonder no more.

I created this one online using a free code generator, and it couldn’t be any easier. Two to try are ZXing or Delivr. You simply select what type of code you want to create, fill in the blanks, and voilà! — a code graphic is instantly created for you. You then save the graphic for your own use.

While I’m not wanting to plaster these things everywhere, I have integrated QR codes into a few recent projects:

• On a business card: A code embedded with my contact information, that when scanned adds me to their phone’s address book.
• On a nonprofit’s donation solicitation: A code labeled “Scan here to give online” takes the user directly to the organization’s “Make a Gift” webpage.
• On the back cover of a magazine: A code placed beside a screen shot of the magazine’s website takes readers to the site.

Cool as it is though, this technology is still new. Many people do not yet know what these codes mean or how to scan them. Be prepared to explain that they’ll first need to install a free QR code reader app on their phone.

If you’re using a QR code on marketing materials, I suggest including a brief text explanation under your code graphic, such as “Scan with a smartphone to see a video of our product in action!”

And be sure to think through the user experience and the location of the code.