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Liminality — “the quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs in the middle stage of a rite of passage” — emerged in the early 20th century out of anthropology to describe social conditions.

While it isn’t precisely defined, these are good rules of thumb:

• A threshold between two spaces
• A transitional space
• A transformative space
• A space where you don’t know what is coming, but where many things are possible in the near future (source)

What is the study of user experience, other than a form of anthropology? In that spirit, the first thing we virtually encounter is a liminal space:

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In any splash screen, there is a hint of ambiguity that you’ll progress any further. That’s a threshold.

The same ambiguity injects itself into a loading icon; how often have we seen this dreaded icon — the “spinning wheel of death” — waiting with a bit of angst for the system to move on from this state?

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Potentially reducible liminal spaces

The splash screen and loading icon guide the user while control is necessarily suspended. However, some liminal spaces leave the user in control. With this confirmation dialog, the user has agency yet faces a threshold, transition, or transformation.

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The spatial constraints of mobile may have shown us another way:

Not my screen. I only watch cat videos, bagpipe marches and lectures on Tier 4 nuclear reactors.