QODE
Circular codes · read live

QODE

The Geometry of Information

Turn any text or link into a round code of hexagon dots, then read it back instantly with your phone camera, right in the browser.

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A Qode that reads “Welcome to QODE”
1,012dots in every Qode
3states per dot
4anchors, four patterns
201characters in one Qode
The story

Why a code should be round

Square codes were made for factories: fast to print, built from black and white blocks, read by machines on a conveyor belt. They work, but they look like a barcode wearing a disguise.

QODE starts from a different question: what if a code looked like something you would want on a poster, a card or a screen? A circle has no top or bottom, sits naturally next to a logo, and turns any phone into the reader.

So the dots became hexagons, packed like a honeycomb. Each dot learned to say three things instead of two. And the corners were replaced by four coloured arcs, a tiny compass that tells the camera exactly where it is looking.

The Red-Blue signature

Every project from Red-Blue Co carries one gradient: red for energy, the spark that starts something, flowing into blue for calm and trust, the thing you can rely on. QODE wears it in its name, its buttons and the light around its lens.

The compass

Four anchors. Four personalities.

Each arc has its own colour and its own line pattern. Colour gives a quick first guess; the pattern proves it, even when a camera shifts colours or a red lamp sits in the background.

A Qode with its four anchors
The alphabet

Every dot says one of three things

A square code's block is on or off. A Qode dot can be empty, a ring or filled, so the same space holds more.

0 · EmptyA faint outline
1 · RingA hollow circle
2 · FilledA solid dot
5 dotsper character
→
3⁵ = 243possible values
→
a–z, 0–9, symbolsand an end marker
Light201characters · each digit stored once
Balanced67characters · every digit stored 3×, scuffs are no problem
Strong40characters · every digit stored 5×, for rough surfaces
Under the hood

How the scanner reads

Five steps, run many times a second on your own device.

  1. 01
    Find

    Colour picks out candidate arcs; the line pattern along each one confirms it. Lit keyboards, bottles and page decorations are rejected.

  2. 02
    Straighten

    Four anchors give four fixed points, enough to undo tilt, rotation and perspective, so a code held at an angle reads like one held flat.

  3. 03
    Measure

    Each of the 1,012 dots is measured by the total light it gives off, which stays the same when the camera blurs it.

  4. 04
    Decide

    The scanner learns what empty, ring and filled look like in this picture, then the stored copies of every digit vote.

  5. 05
    Check & lock

    Readable characters, an end marker in the right place and copies that agree. A very clear frame locks at once; otherwise two frames must match.

Nothing leaves your phone. Two background workers share the job: one follows the code on every frame, the other reads full-resolution frames. Camera images and uploaded photos are decoded in the browser and never sent anywhere.
Open source

Red-Blue-co / qode

View on GitHub

The generator, the decoder and this site, all in plain JavaScript. Read how the anchors are found, fork it, or build your own reader.

JavaScriptNode.jsExpressnode-canvasWeb WorkersgetUserMedia

Make your first Qode

It takes a few seconds. Then point your phone at it.

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