Liminality and why designers are masters of the in-between

Design is about innovation. It is about change. It is about going from actualities to possibilities. It is about the process that happens “in between”. In anthropology there is a term often used to capture moments, experiences and spaces of the in-between: liminality.

liminality

Originally referring to the middle part of a 'rite de passage' (van Gennep 1960; Turner 1976), liminality is a concept that captures transitions such as marriage, a bar or bat mitzvah or a coming of age ritual. Liminality is not about the individual, it is about the collective. It is as much about a community’s recognition of an individual's transition as the transitioning individual itself. Today, the concept has been applied to all sorts of contexts that can be described as 'in between'. For example, scholars have linked liminality to innovation by arguing that it is about the transition from the present to the future (Henfridsson & Yoo 2014). 

When in liminality, taken-for-granted structures and rules no longer apply. At the same time, new ways of behaving are not yet formed and institutionalised. In the in-between there is lots of ambiguity. There is no clear direction. On the one hand, there is the magic of becoming. Space for creativity and potentiality. The celebration of what can be rather than what is. On the other hand, there is the risk of losing sight. About not knowing what to do, in what order and who to engage with. A feeling that can swiftly transition into frustration and a sense of being lost. 

designers as masters of the in-between

A designer is in a way a master of navigating the liminal. Design projects are often about creating novelty or at least about reorientation. 

The designer’s turn to materiality and making can be interpreted as an alternative language in innovation projects that are often dominated by text, words and stories. References to technologies can be seen as a metaphor of what is possible. The efforts of community building through workshops and alike can be seen as creating a collective that supports, recognises and even champions change. The emphasis on the importance of working in a creative space can be literally seen as creating an interstitial space between orders: spaces of becoming where the possible reigns.

At the same time, the designer’s efforts to engage in project management and define deliverables, can be seen as a way to reduce ambiguity and create a sense of comfort in a process that is often experienced as uncomfortable. Giving advice on what strategic opportunities are interesting for business clients can be seen as a way to set direction, even though the future is ridden of uncertainties. Similarly, creating action plans, roadmaps and business cases are ways in which designers try to move beyond ambiguity and introduce some realism, some sense of previous structures and orders.

Designers, thus, need to not only be comfortable with ambiguity but in fact master the in-between. They need to speak the language of liminality. Being able to navigate that what is unknown and making others comfortable in it as well. Design is about building bridges. It is about making it work together.

Do your experiences of working with or being a designer resonate with this? Why so? Please do share your thoughts in the comments. Let’s rethink the role of the designer in business together.

References

Henfridsson, O., & Yoo, Y. (2014). The liminality of trajectory shifts in institutional entrepreneurship. Organization Science, 25(3), 932-950.

Turner, V.W. (1969). The ritual process: Structure and anti‐structure, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Van Gennep, A. (1960). The rites of passage. Routledge.

See also:

Laurey, N.R., Soekijad, M., Berends, H. & Huysman, M.H., chapter 3 “Facilitating Liminality: Designers as Ceremony Masters”, in my dissertation thesis (http://my-thesis.info/PDF/Laurey/mobile/index.html)