# The Transformative Power of Liminal Design Creating boundary-pushing experiences in design - **Source:** [UX Collective - Medium](https://brifing.si/source/5c6bdc88-e150-4203-af43-069801e37dd9) - **Published:** 2026-07-17 - **Topic:** [Design & UX](https://brifing.si/c/design) - **Original article:** - **On Brifing:** https://brifing.si/s/a05badb6-a4bd-40ce-9ec9-a5f5095433a8 ## A New Approach to Design Liminal design offers an approach that challenges conventional design thinking and prompts deep reflection. Moving beyond mere functionality, it triggers existential questions that expand design's boundaries. This method invites users into experiences that defy expectations and conventional norms. ## Limits of Transactional Design Traditional transactional design focuses on predictable, scalable solutions that maintain the status quo. In contrast, liminal design aims to surprise and provoke thought through unexpected experiences. This approach unlocks design's transformative potential by challenging users' preconceptions. ## The Concept of Threshold States In anthropology, liminality refers to threshold states. In design, it represents intentionally created spaces between contradictory ideas that allow for profound new insights. This conceptual space encourages users to move beyond habitual thought patterns into new cognitive territories. ## Between Beauty and Sublime Kant's aesthetic theory distinguishes between beauty as peaceful contemplation and the sublime as mentally agitating experience. Liminal design belongs to the latter category, simultaneously surprising and provoking users. This approach moves design beyond purely aesthetic considerations into more meaningful territory. ## Power of Contradictory Emotions Impactful designs can evoke seemingly opposite emotions simultaneously. Like astronaut Rusty Schweickart's space experience, these designs create feelings of both smallness and connection to something greater. Such paradoxical experiences become powerful catalysts for personal transformation. ## Awe and Transformation Psychological research shows how awe transforms people. Liminal design creates similar effects, helping users expand their worldviews. These experiences can permanently alter perceptions about oneself and one's environment, much like profound life events. ## Reshaping Mental Models Liminal design prompts users to question their mental models of reality. Like Oliver Wendell Holmes' Alps experience, these designs stretch cognitive boundaries, enabling new perspectives to emerge. This process facilitates fundamental shifts in understanding. ## Bridging Fiction and Reality Similar to cinema and literature, liminal design enables voluntary suspension of disbelief. Users enthusiastically engage with the experience despite knowing it's not 'real.' This phenomenon enhances design's emotional impact and memorability. ## Design as Trickster Liminal design acts as design's trickster archetype, playfully challenging the status quo. By forcing unconventional thinking, this approach ensures designs are not just functional but thought-provoking. Users gain fresh perspectives through these boundary-pushing experiences. ## Emotional Depth and Meaning Effective liminal designs evoke profound emotional responses. Beyond aesthetics, they raise existential questions, allowing users to simultaneously experience contradictory emotions like pain and joy. This emotional complexity creates deeply memorable experiences. ## The Future of Design Liminal design points toward design's future potential. By deepening user experience beyond predictable solutions, this approach expands design's impact. Transformative experiences replace safe conventions, significantly broadening design's influence and relevance. ## A Tool for Transformation Liminal design serves not just aesthetic purposes but functions as a powerful mechanism for personal and societal change. By expanding worldviews and fostering deeper awareness, this approach makes design indispensable in our contemporary world as a catalyst for meaningful transformation. ## Sources covering this story - https://uxdesign.cc/how-to-kiss-a-cannibal-d4ca10ee4606?source=rss----138adf9c44c---4 — --- _Summary written by Brifing from the original reporting. Copyright in the original article belongs to its publisher; read the full piece at the link above._