In Loving Memory: 7 Reasons to Place QR Codes on Graves
QR codes on graves are a ground-breaking way to keep the memories of departed loved ones accessible for their families and visitors.
Gone are the days when a grave marker was the sole testament to a person’s existence. With the QR code approach to memorializing the dead, people can open up a digital gateway to the life story of the person resting beneath the tombstone.
Dig deeper and unearth how a QR code on gravestones can offer meaningful ways to remember the lives of loved ones and how you can create one at no cost using a free QR code generator.
What is a QR code for a grave?
A grave QR code is a versatile digital tool that you can add on a gravestone or a plaque near a gravesite to provide various information.
This memorial QR code provides a quick and easy way for families and visitors to access digital content related to the deceased person, enhancing the traditional gravesite experience.
It can store information, from URLs of memorial websites and social media tribute posts to multimedia files such as images, audio, and video.
Scanning the QR code with a smartphone allows visitors to learn more about the person buried in the grave through multiple media resources—fostering deeper connections with the departed individual.
Why QR codes on graves can meaningfully memorialize the dead
Grave QR codes offer modern yet meaningful ways to honor late family members, friends, and even strangers. Here are seven reasons why these versatile tech tools provide heartfelt remembrance for the dead:
Rich multimedia content
Grave QR codes can link to diverse media like photos, videos, and personal messages, offering a multi-dimensional view of the deceased and enriching the visitor’s understanding of the person’s life.
QR codes are also shareable in both digital and physical forms, creating a greater reach to all family members and friends wherever they are.
Interactive experience
Instead of simply displaying a single photo, why not use a video QR code to give you a better form of memory?
Visitors can actively engage with the digital content, creating a dynamic experience rather than a passive observance, creating a more profound sense of connection.
Preservation of legacy
You can accurately preserve the deceased’s memory in QR codes, allowing future generations to learn about their family history and connect emotionally with their ancestors.
Photos and albums, no matter how carefully taken care of, will eventually get damaged. QR codes, however, can remain accessible despite a scratch or tear because of their error-correction capacity.
Educational value
For historically significant figures, you can use an education QR code to provide a learning opportunity, enabling students, researchers, and enthusiasts to study the individual’s contributions to society.
This is an innovative way of immortalizing them aside from books and written pieces.
Safe and secured personal information
What is a dynamic QR code? The codes have the ability to keep embedded data safe and secured through their password-protect feature.
Displaying the photo and other personal information of the deceased on the gravestone is prone to attract fraudsters and identity theft. Who knows, they might even use this information against family members.
To ensure that only relatives and friends get access to sensitive information about your loved one who passed away, add a password that they must correctly input first after scanning the code.
Real-time updates
Families can update the digital content in QR codes on graves, allowing the memorial to evolve, reflecting the ongoing legacy of the departed as new events, achievements, and memories occur.
For instance, you can update the embedded data in the event of inconsistency of information.
Community engagement
With QR codes, you can facilitate community involvement, as friends and family can share their stories and experiences, fostering a sense of belonging and collective memory around the departed individual.
To ponder: Can you get a headstone with a QR code?
Numerous funeral homes and monumental masonries place QR codes directly on the gravestone or monument, allowing families and visitors to remember a lost loved one efficiently.
Getting a QR code yourself to incorporate on a headstone is also easy. Follow this step-by-step guide to create one:
1. Open a reliable QR code software on your browser
Go to Free QR Code Generator website.
This QR code software offers 20 QR solutions that serve specific purposes and six customization tools you can use to generate QR codes with logos for free.
2. Select from the available QR solutions
Choose among the available solutions that fit your specific QR code needs. Some of the solutions you can use for free are the following: URL, text, location, and more.
3. Input the required information
Embed the information you want to store in the QR code by copy-pasting the link to a memorial website or digital resource or directly uploading an image, audio, or video from your computer.
4. Generate the QR code
Once done, click the Generate QR code button. Free QR Code Generator won’t take long and will immediately display your QR code.
5. Add a personal touch
Use the available customization tools to add a personal touch to your QR code: color, eyes, frame, pattern, and template.
You can also add an image of your deceased family member or relative through the Add logo tool.
6. Run a scan test
Do a QR code test to see if it directs users to the exact content. You can do this through your mobile device’s camera, browser, Google Lens, or a third-party scanner app.
7. Download and incorporate on the gravestone
Download the QR code image in SVG or PNG format.
SVG provides you with print-quality images, retaining their quality even when stretched. On the other hand, PNG is great for digital posting materials.
Don’t forget to add a Call-to-Action (CTA) to guide visitors in scanning the code.
Bring this funeral QR code to your trusted gravestone maker if you want it engraved on the headstone, or you may just print and laminate it to protect it from changing weather.
Best practices for Grave QR codes
These codes are effective in enhancing the memorial experience for visitors. Here are the best practices to follow in creating your own QR code:
1. Ensure that the QR code is scannable
Before printing or engraving the QR code into the gravestone, ensure that the QR code is scannable.
You can do this by following the guidelines for making QR codes: use an appropriate combination for the QR codes color scheme, input the correct data, and download it with high resolution.
Make sure to use trustworthy QR code software like Free QR Code Generator to get high-quality QR codes.
2. Choose appropriate material
Choose a durable material for the gravestone, such as granite, marble, or metal. Ensure that the material is suitable for engraving and can withstand outdoor elements.
3. Strategically place your QR codes on graves
Select an appropriate location on the grave where you want to engraved the QR code.
It should be easily accessible to visitors and should not obstruct any other engravings or decorations on the grave.
4. Use laser engraving
Compared to sandblasting, which might produce a slightly rougher finish, laser engraving is precise and creates a sharp contrast, suitable for QR codes containing complicated details.
5. Regularly maintain the tombstone
Despite QR codes’ error correction level, cleaning the tombstone is a must to retain the QR code’s scannability and, at the same time, keep the grave of your lost loved ones respectable.
Real-life use cases: QR code tombstone examples
Families, cemeteries, and monumental masons use QR codes to provide a modern, interactive, and personalized way for visitors to connect with the memories of the departed.
Let’s explore the popularity of QR codes for memorial purposes with the following QR code tombstone examples:
Grandparents’ grave in North Philadelphia
Headstones keep dearly departed close, and Lorie Miller—owner of Digital Legacys, sees the benefits of this technology by affixing one on her grandparents’ grave.
Miller and her husband then started this business of providing URL QR code to clients, which they will engrave on the headstones. Family members can update the content by uploading photos and videos of their loved ones.
Scanning the code will allow them to access memories in just a scan, such as images, videos, and music.
3D-printed QR code from Massachusetts
A man from Massachusetts found a more creative way to incorporate QR codes on his father’s grave—3D-printing the item using plastic with a glow-in-the-dark feature.
Michael Bourque sees this as an opportunity to share the incredible life story of his dad with anyone who visits his grave and keeps them forever.
Passersby who scan the directly access a website containing information about the life of the inventor’s father, a U.S. Army who fought in the Korean War in 1951.
QR codes on Irish gravestones
The Story Of, a company based in Cork, Ireland, is incorporating discreetly placed 2-dimensional codes on gravestones to tell the stories of loved ones.
Given the limited amount of text headstones makers can put on the gravestones, the digital tool allows families to provide more information about their deceased loved ones.
The business wants to work with families to collect images and videos of their departed loved ones and create a webpage about the person’s life which the family members can access by scanning a QR code placed on the grave.
Chester Pearce’s headstone QR code
QR codes on headstones are also becoming popular in Poole, Dorset in England, as a funeral company called Chester Pearce provides interactive gravestones using QR codes.
Steven Nimmo sees this as a way for families to put their deceased family members front and center in their thoughts.
He first found inspiration from the United States and then from the graves of former presidents in Red Square, Moscow.
QR codes on Japanese graves
Japan is also trying the modern way of burial and grieving by using QR codes as families continue to relocate to urban regions far from family cemeteries.
Incorporating QR technology into graves provides families and relatives with an affordable and convenient method to continue praying for their loved ones even when they are miles away.
Keeping memories alive with memorial QR codes
In an era where memories are increasingly stored digitally, QR codes serve as the best tool, preserving the memories of individuals long after they’re gone.
QR codes on graves keep a person’s life story, achievements, and memories alive. They provide families, relatives, and strangers the chance to learn more about their ancestors and other notable people who once walked this earth.
Through the use of QR technology, loved ones can turn graveyards into interactive environments where people can honor the deceased’s memories in interesting and engaging ways.
Visit Free QR Code Generator and create quality grave QR codes to keep the memories of beloveds in the great beyond alive.
