The error correction isn't meant for folks like us who think about things like "how can I make this message smaller to increase the readability of the QR code", it's for the people that take their entire tracking parameter-infected URL and dump it into a version 25 (117x117) code and plaster it onto a huge sign out front where a bird promptly shits on it and a teenager slaps a sticker on it and somehow the data remains.
I also have the impression that a common use of error correction is the "QR Code with a logo in the middle" style. With an appropriate level of error correction, you can carve an empty patch in the middle of the logo and slap a logo/icon there, and the QR code remains readable.
At least this is the way I did it years ago when I thought it would be fancy to have my contact data as a QR Code on my visit card.
