Featured photo by Holger Link on Unsplash

Did you know there is an entire Augmented and Virtual Reality culture? It consists mostly of people on Facebook and LinkedIn hyping their hardware or software and complaining that people have yet to appreciate or adopt their technology. Do they need someone to validate their feelings about this emerging technology? Wake up call AR/MR/VR/XR believers: no one will validate your feelings and no one should. It is your job to validate the feelings of the entire world.

// The impulse for a Hologram

You want this, don’t you?

Let’s cut to the chase: the impetus to experience a hologram should come from that emotional impulses it satisfies. These impulses are based, in part, on 3 needs:

The need to understand an individual’s internal and external world

The need to socially articulate a wish based on that understanding

The need to manifest that wish against all opposition

What am I basing all this on? The fact that I love holograms more than just about anyone on the face of this planet. Accept the premise and let’s move on.

What will satisfy these needs? Emotions associated with three objects:

An ink blot

A magic genie

A life vest

// Ink Blots

Ink blots don’t have to be psychological tools. They can just be ambiguous shapes that help you understand what your mind is predisposed to seeing regardless of why it has that predisposition. The important thing is that a person understands what they see. After they have formed a perception they can question if the perception is accurate or not. But you need the perception before you can compare two perceptions. The Hologram is epheremal so it is easy to quickly change into the thing that the person is looking for. A concrete example is a dad or mom using a hologram to plan their week. They can add and take away objects that help them determine what they can do and can’t do during the week. If you were staring at a scene of dropping kids off and then a scene getting coffee with co-workers you would likely see items that were missing from these narratives: the car and how many groceries it can carry. This is associative and non linear thinking people crave and do naturally — not a spreadsheet.

// A Magic Genie

What, were you expecting the genie from Aladdin?

A genie listens to you and grants your wish. The very act of someone listening helps us organize our thoughts more so if someone isn’t listening. The hologram listens because its physical manifestation adapts to your wishes.

// A Life Vest

A life vest…

A life vest is a thing you never want to wear until you really need it. It is an object that preserves your life when you have nothing left. Not everyone knows how to look inside themselves and articulate their wishes. Seeing your wish makes it so much easier to achieve. The hologram serves a visualization purpose that people will not be able to live without. It is a fragment of mass marketing in the way social media channels are fragments of stardom. Now anyone can be a star because of social media. Well, now anyone can have a tailored desire. It used to be mass produced. Today it is smaller niche groups consuming products. The hologram helps market to an audience of one.

// Show Me an Example

Ok, see this screenshot of the IKEA furniture placer? The entire app is an ink blot in that it helps you realize that you have a want for a type of furniture and it offers different images to help you perceive what it is that you want.

The app is a magic genie because it helps you figure out where you wish to put it. If it REALLY works somewhere in your house than you have just articulated the wish.

It is a life preserver because you now have a nearly satisfied need and only this hologram can help you manifest it. Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of this example. A hologram can do far more than be a material object. It can be a tutoring tool to your child, a therapist, a visualization of a how a drug can save a life, a way to control a space ship, or a lovely valentines day message.

A hologram can be so many things in so many different ways which is why it is a ink blot, magic genie, and life vest.

It is all things and can save anyone.

It meets our emotional needs to understand ourselves and our world, socially articulate what we want, and see if manifested.

// So what?

Target your market segment with this framework. For me, that is scientists in aerospace, energy, and particle physics. I need to understand how to make ink blots, genies, and life vests for physicists and scientists. It isn’t actually any harder than doing that for any other job title. Understanding what people want it just really difficult and this article won’t make is much easier. It just gives the reader (i.e. myself) a framework to approach people with.

Here are some questions to help you make the right holograms:

What understanding can your holograms give people?

How will it help them articulate themselves and feel like someone is listening?

How will it be something they can’t live without?

That word, I do not think is means what you think it means…

Hologram is a misnomer. I am refereing to augmented reality and stereography but if you are seriously going to attempt to debate this with me you are missing the point and REALLY need to re-read this article to understand emotion. The world won’t care what we call holograms. They care about the emotions they make them feel. *Mic drop*