Call them vanity barcodes. Instead of using simple squares filed with crowded vertical lines, companies are adding some artistic touches of their own. Nestle’s customized barcode for Juicy Juice has bubbles rising from the ubiquitous lines. Several companies have specialized in vanity barcodes in recent years. Some create them in-house. At Vanity Barcodes LLC in Lakewood, N.J., co-owner Yael Miller says one of her favorites is a hand mixer design that looks as if the barcode is mixing up the numbers below it.
Barcodes are what allow retailers to track products through their stores and change pricing without needing to retag every item. Every retail barcode number in the United States and 107 other countries is assigned by GSI, a nonprofit standards organization created in the early 1970s.