Art director’s choice

The humble barcode is an essential addition to any commercial design job, and have become emblems of our consumer civilisation – so much so that we barely notice them any more.

The process of turning this mundane form into something visually engaging has, it seems, become an artform in itself.

Design studio, Art. Lebedev have been creating posters and screensavers visualising day-to-day observations that feature barcode symbolism for some years. Some examples of which are below. See more here.

Beach Packaging created this barcode design to accompany a design for Casa Visco. The genius doesn’t just lie in the execution of the design but it’s application to such a fitting brand.

Inventive, readable versions of the humble barcode, transformed from its black and white rectangular format to witty graphics that range from landscapes to weapons have been cropping up a lot recently. Here is a fine selection, created by Japanese design company D-Barcode.