{"id":139995,"date":"2025-04-21T15:41:15","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T13:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geniusloci.com\/?p=139995"},"modified":"2026-06-30T09:29:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T07:29:43","slug":"genius-loci-qr-medals-design-heritage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geniusloci.com\/en\/genius-loci-qr-medals-design-heritage\/","title":{"rendered":"Why and how we designed the Genius Loci QR medals"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column column_width_percent=”80″ gutter_size=”3″ overlay_alpha=”50″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ width=”1\/1″ uncode_shortcode_id=”264511″][vc_empty_space][vc_custom_heading heading_semantic=”h4″ text_size=”bigtext” uncode_shortcode_id=”692520″]Keeping things simple is a complex matter. And we wanted to share with you some of the key design principles that shaped Genius Loci into the product it is today.[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”721308″]<\/p>\n

For several years now, our team<\/a> has been working towards a simple yet ambitious goal: to let everyone rediscover the places around us through their stories, while supporting cultural and tourism enhancement at the local, regional and even European scale. These stories and anecdotes that deserve to be passed on. This is how the Genius Loci project was born. Stainless steel QR codes, to shine a light on local heritage.<\/p>\n

So is Genius Loci just a simple QR code?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not quite: our project has in fact been recognised with a Gold Medal at the Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions<\/a> in 2023<\/b>, as well as a Venture<\/a> award from ETH Zurich in 2024<\/b>, recognising its potential for cultural and technological innovation on a European scale.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/1″][vc_gallery el_id=”gallery-730240″ medias=”139989,136366,139990,136364,138445,139991″ gutter_size=”3″ screen_lg=”1000″ screen_md=”600″ screen_sm=”480″ single_shape=”round” single_overlay_opacity=”50″ single_padding=”2″ uncode_shortcode_id=”771128″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column column_width_percent=”80″ gutter_size=”3″ overlay_alpha=”50″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ width=”1\/1″ uncode_shortcode_id=”179020″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”242197″]<\/p>\n

From the outset, the idea was to offer a new medium for heritage enhancement that is simple and highly flexible, and above all accessible without an app<\/b><\/span> or any technological barrier<\/b>: <\/span>stainless steel medals, discreetly integrated into public space, each fitted with an engraved QR code.<\/p>\n

These medals are designed to be fixed onto walls, trees, <\/span>benches, statues or busy spots, and give access to rich digital content, often written by residents or passionate locals, sometimes by heritage enhancement experts. Once the QR code is scanned, the user discovers an anecdote, a personal account or a historical gem connected to the place. The content is revealed only on site, like a treasure hunt, as a reward for curiosity.<\/p>\n

Why this format? Because conventional panels, although effective in certain contexts, often come with several limitations. First, their cost is high, which restricts their use to a few sites deemed a priority, leaving the vast majority of sites without any interpretation at all. A kind of cultural no man’s land. Next, their strong, sometimes imposing visual presence can spoil the look of certain sensitive or heritage sites. Finally, their content is often constrained by the available space, which leads to very generic messages, <\/span>not very engaging, and rarely updated.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column column_width_percent=”80″ gutter_size=”3″ overlay_alpha=”50″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ width=”1\/1″ uncode_shortcode_id=”141869″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”374585″]<\/p>\n

Our approach stems from this observation. Rather than adding new large panels or trying to say everything everywhere, we chose to create a discreet network, spread across the town, the village or the region, that weaves into the interstices of public space<\/b>. These medals make it possible to showcase “small heritage”: that bench full of stories, that forgotten alleyway, that detail invisible to the hurried eye. These are the places that give a territory its soul, and to which we want to give a voice once more.<\/p>\n

Our ambition is not to replace conventional panels but to extend them, to create a parallel form of signage, fine, distributed, almost invisible. And yet, once you know how to recognise it, it is there. It reveals the details, the margins, the secrets.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/1″][vc_single_image media=”137119″ media_width_percent=”100″ media_ratio=”twentyone-nine” shape=”img-round” radius=”std” uncode_shortcode_id=”121460″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column column_width_percent=”80″ gutter_size=”3″ overlay_alpha=”50″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ width=”1\/1″ uncode_shortcode_id=”925737″][vc_custom_heading text_size=”h3″ uncode_shortcode_id=”180920″]Targeting curiosity, without necessarily calling on everyone[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”427600″]<\/p>\n

From the very beginning, we made a clear choice: not to try to capture everyone’s attention, but to speak to those who already have this appetite for places and their stories. They are the ones who, most of the time, become the keepers of memory.<\/b> Those who tell the tales, who pass them on, who take others with them on the journey of discovery. By reaching this audience, even if it represents only a certain percentage of residents and passing visitors, we are counting on a ripple effect: because they are the ones who will keep these stories alive and circulating among future generations.<\/p>\n

Why a medal rather than a large panel covered in text? <\/b><\/p>\n

In psychology, this is called the “information gap”: that moment when you feel that something is missing. Reading “Secrets of this place” on the medal, translated into 16 languages, the attentive passer-by senses that some piece of information is escaping them.<\/p>\n

There is something important HERE. <\/span>Behind this QR code<\/i><\/p>\n

And that is often enough to trigger the act of scanning. This gesture becomes a personal act of discovery, one that engages far more than passive reading.<\/p>\n

What we create is not an information system, but an experience<\/b>. Discreet, intentional. Those it touches live a unique moment of transmission. The others are not disturbed. This is our way of respecting public attention, which today is saturated.<\/p>\n

We also know that this gentle frustration \u2013 the feeling that a place has something to tell, without anything directly pointing to it \u2013 is a powerful driver of attention. That is the whole point of a minimal approach: to suggest rather than explain, to open the door without dictating the path.<\/p>\n

Is this reserved for geeks? For technology enthusiasts? – We don’t think so. Today everyone has a phone in their pocket, and scanning a QR code has become an everyday gesture for most people. What is not everyday is finding a rich, deep, high-quality experience behind this rather low-tech and very simple interface.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column column_width_percent=”80″ gutter_size=”3″ overlay_alpha=”50″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ width=”1\/1″ uncode_shortcode_id=”158721″][vc_custom_heading text_size=”h3″ uncode_shortcode_id=”131900″]What if the story was already there, just forgotten?[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”187546″]<\/p>\n

In every municipality, however small, there is a memory that is readily available yet rarely tapped into. Municipal archives, archaeological reports, old documents, accounts kept in libraries, sometimes private Facebook groups or regional or national databases. Too often, these resources lie dormant in cupboards or on hard drives, far from the public eye.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading heading_semantic=”h4″ text_size=”h4″ uncode_shortcode_id=”169186″]This is a real missed opportunity today: these fragments of history deserve to be known and shared, not kept solely for researchers or archivists. Genius Loci can be the tool that connects this dormant knowledge with your residents and visitors.[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”110375″]<\/p>\n

Our experience also reveals a deep interest from the local press and from heritage specialists and academics, who see in it a means of democratisation, a bridge towards the younger ones among us.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/1″][vc_gallery el_id=”gallery-498324″ type=”carousel” medias=”138499,136360,139992,139993,139994″ carousel_lg=”3″ carousel_md=”3″ carousel_sm=”1″ thumb_size=”four-three” gutter_size=”3″ carousel_interval=”3000″ carousel_navspeed=”400″ stage_padding=”0″ single_shape=”round” single_overlay_opacity=”50″ single_padding=”2″ uncode_shortcode_id=”163098″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column column_width_percent=”80″ gutter_size=”3″ overlay_alpha=”50″ shift_x=”0″ shift_y=”0″ shift_y_down=”0″ z_index=”0″ medium_width=”0″ mobile_width=”0″ width=”1\/1″ uncode_shortcode_id=”421330″][vc_custom_heading text_size=”h3″ uncode_shortcode_id=”171415″]Behind the design: a methodology and in-depth thinking[\/vc_custom_heading][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”192987″]<\/p>\n

This project rests on one conviction: today’s design methods can serve the transmission of local history, for generations to come.<\/p>\n

We followed a rigorous design process, inspired by UX (user experience) design practices:<\/p>\n