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QR Codes for Temporary Print

A year of scans, compressed into three days, priced the same either way.

Halle Nord screws its wall labels to the wall three weeks before a show opens. The visitors come from everywhere and the building is in Berlin, so language is the only signal that follows the reader rather than the room.

The phone asks for

The rule engine

ScanEvery scan enters hereLanguageDeutsch · Français · 日本語 · Brit…Deutsch · Français · 日本語 · British English1DeutschDeutsch2FrançaisFrançais3日本語日本語4British EnglishBritish EnglishEveryone elseEveryone elseObject 44 · DeutschObject 44 · Deutschexample.com/de/object-44example.com/de/object-44Object 44 · FrançaisObject 44 · Françaisexample.com/fr/object-44example.com/fr/object-44Object 44 · 日本語Object 44 · 日本語example.com/ja/object-44example.com/ja/object-44Object 44 · British EnglishObject 44 · British Englishexample.com/en-gb/object-44example.com/en-gb/object-44Object 44 · defaultObject 44 · defaultexample.com/object-44example.com/object-44

What the scanner gets

Every branch here reaches the same page in a different language, so the phone shows one of them. The difference this rule makes is the words, not the layout.

The rule lists "de", not "de-DE". The exact tag misses and the primary subtag catches, so every German-speaking variant reaches one label instead of needing a rule each.

Every preference in the header is tried in turn: an exact tag match anywhere beats a primary-subtag match anywhere. That is two passes rather than one, and it is why en-GB can separate while fr-CA still reaches the French label.

Get this wrong and the visitor who flew furthest is the one standing in front of a label they cannot read. The label is screwed to the wall; the rule is the only part still editable.

no subscription · pay per scan · nothing to cancel

Printed a fortnight early, useful for a weekend

Signage for an event, a pop-up, a festival or a market stall is finalised days before the doors open and obsolete the moment they close. It is also the shape that breaks tiered pricing: the traffic arrives all at once.

  • The agenda changed after the badges went to the printer.
  • A monthly scan allowance is exceeded on day two, mid-event, by someone who is not at a desk.
  • An annual cap forces a tier jump for a spike that will not repeat.
  • The signs point at a live schedule that is meaningless the day after.

What a stall or a stand sets up in an afternoon

  1. Print one code per location

    Each is 1 credit to create, once. Scans report separately, so you learn which corner of the venue the signage actually reached.

  2. Answer in the reader language

    Everyone is standing in the same building and almost nobody reads the same language, so the browser preference is the signal that follows the person.

    lang
  3. Give it a second life afterwards

    Repoint the code at recordings, photos or next year sign-up. Anything people kept keeps working instead of becoming dead paper.

What survives a three-day spike

  • A burst costs what the volume costs

    1 credit per scan with no monthly allowance to exceed, so concentrated traffic is priced identically to the same volume across a year.

  • No tier to jump mid-event

    There is no plan whose cap could be reached, so nothing pauses and nothing prompts an upgrade while the doors are open.

  • Multilingual from one artwork lang

    The browser preference follows the reader rather than the building they are standing in.

  • Late changes are edits, not reprints

    Room moves, speaker swaps and schedule shifts become destination edits, which cost nothing.

  • Session-time routing when it helps schedule

    A schedule rule can point a hall sign at whatever is on right now rather than at the full agenda.

  • Nothing recurring afterwards

    A stall that trades six weekends a year is not paying for the other forty-six.

Questions

Will a burst of scans over three days cost extra?

No. Scans are 1 credit each with no monthly allowance, so a concentrated spike is priced the same as the same volume spread over a year, and there is no tier to exceed mid-event.

Why route temporary signage by language rather than country?

Because everyone at a venue is in the same country and that tells you nothing about what they read. The browser language preference follows the person, which is exactly the distinction that matters for an international audience in one room.

Can I change what a badge points at during the event?

Yes, as often as you like. That is the practical value here: the artwork deadline and the content deadline stop being the same deadline.

What should the code do after the event ends?

Point it somewhere that stays useful, such as recordings, photos or registration for the next edition. Anything people kept then keeps working instead of becoming a dead link.

What happens to the codes if I do not run an event next year?

They keep resolving while the account has credits, and credits are valid 18 months. If the balance empties the codes pause rather than break, and a top-up resumes them on the same URLs.