[Interview] Taku Harada, CEO of ColorSync

Digital ticketing platform Peatix offers a completely digitized experience for event hosts and attendees.  With the purchase, receipt, and function of ticketing all available via mobile app, plus event pages and management, social media tools,  and analytics for hosts, Peatix presents a viable alternative to paper and email ticketing. Plus, the fees are low, with 2.5% of the ticket price + 99¢, and no fees for free events.

Peatix recently announced a new app called ColorSync, which greatly improves and speeds up the admission process at the door of events. Instead of displaying a scannable bar or QR code, ColorSync displays a flashing sequence of colors that matches up with the doorman’s mobile display, and attendees are admitting as soon as the sequence is recognized. This is a pretty instantaneous process, as it only requires visual recognition of the proper colors and symbols to move queues into the event space.

We recently spoke to Peatix and ColorSync founder Taku Harada about the implementation and efficiency or ColorSync, and how the app could break into the larger market to speed along frustrating lines before shows.

SoundCtrl: Was there a specific instance as an attendee or as an event organizer that inspired the creation of ColorSync?

Taku Harada: We go out to events as much as possible to help out our customers and to understand the issues that event organizers face on event day. We began to build customized QR code scanner boxes to support large-scale events (here’s a video in Japanese). I think we have over 30 of them right now.

About a year ago, we supported operations for a concert by a well-known Japanese musical artist, where we had to check-in 800 attendees within 30 minutes. We used 4 of our scanner boxes and we got it done somehow, but it’s a harrowing experience when you see 800 people lined up in front of you, the police are out to make sure that chaos doesn’t ensue, and you’re just not sure if the QR codes are going to work. On our way home, my team was discussing how we need to increase production of the scanner boxes, that we should outsource production to a Taiwanese company, and that we need to build a website to sell the boxes…. and I said, “Stop! You guys are nuts!” That’s when we realized that we need to build a check-in method that is fast, secure, and one that relies on visual recognition of a sequence of visual images… all without any reliance on hardware that you would have to build or purchase.

SC: Is Peatix functioning as the umbrella app for ColorSync’s functionality, or will it be a standalone app that venues and concertgoers can use?

TH: We’ll enable ColorSync for events residing on the Peatix platform as a first step. However, we won’t cross out the possibility of offering ColorSync as a stand-alone functionality in the future.

SC: What practices or features prevent fraudulent activity? Could someone screenshot the event’s color and possibly bypass security?

TH: There several measures baked into the system, but the biggest anti-fraud feature would be that the color sequences are updated randomly very frequently; even if somebody copies a pattern and reproduces it on his/her phone, the “correct” pattern/sequence will have been updated and changed a few seconds later. We’re also looking at the possibility of introducing images into the mix; a sequence could look something like blue -> red -> picture of car -> yellow -> band logo.

SC:  Are you partnering with concert venues or promoters to bring Peatix/ColorSync into the mainstream?

TH: We’re going to enable ColorSync for events on Peatix as a first step, but we already have relationships with major promoters, particularly in Japan, so we presume that more and more mainstream events will utilize ColorSync mobile tickets in the future.

SC: Many events have multiple ticketing options with various fees, especially digital “convenience” fees. Will ColorSync account for these additional costs to fans?

TH: One of our founding philosophies is to “never charge additional fees to the ticket buyer.” We only charge a very low ticketing fee to the event organizer and never to the ticket buyer, and we’re going to keep it that way!

SC: What are the current and future plans for ColorSync? Are there any partnerships that show promise for getting the app into more hands?

TH: We’ve been receiving a ton of inquiries about using ColorSync for a variety of events, large and small. We’ll begin testing the feature with selected events very soon, and we hope to open it up to the public later in the year.

Visit peatix.com for more info about event and ticketing management, and the new ColorSync app.