Actual holography — the recording of light field information on photographic media to produce three-dimensional images — was invented by Dennis Gabor in 1947, work for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1971. Real holograms are physically distinct from any other image technology: they contain parallax information, meaning you can look around objects by moving your head.

The holographic aesthetic in design is only partly based on real holograms. It draws equally from the science fiction imaginary — the Star Wars message projected by R2-D2, the Minority Report interface, the holographic companion Joi in Blade Runner 2049 — which developed visual conventions (cyan glow, translucency, scan lines, projection noise) that have no basis in how physical holograms actually look. Physical holograms are typically monochromatic; science fiction holograms are cyan and iridescent.

The contemporary holographic aesthetic in design — the rainbow oil-slick iridescence on credit cards and high-fashion packaging — is a third, separate thing: the color diffraction pattern of rainbow foil used for security features. This material, used to prevent counterfeiting, became a luxury signal precisely because of its technical complexity and shifting visual character.