What are liminal spaces? Why these eerie ‘non-places’ are haunting the internet.

Why do liminal spaces feel so eerie?

Just like the feeling we get when something feels off—in a movie or in real life—liminal spaces trigger a psychological response in us. They’re places designed for movement or transition—like waiting rooms, stairwells, motorways, or car parks—but when presented to the audience as empty or quiet, they create a sense of stillness that feels unnatural.

This eerie feeling, sometimes described as “the uncanny,” is what makes liminal visuals so compelling. We’re used to seeing these spaces full of people or activity. Take that away, and our brain knows something’s not quite right, and we naturally peer in to take a closer look.

For creatives and small business owners, it’s not just the eerie mood that captures attention—it’s the sense of intrigue that comes with it. Liminal spaces trigger emotions and force the audience to pause and focus on the visuals in front of them. Used right, it can stop the social media scroll or prompt deeper curiosity in an email. With Adobe Express, you can add these effects and atmospheric tension to your designs, whether using a social post, an arty calendar, or even a hoodie design.

Familiar places made strange.

Choose everyday spaces people recognise—shopping centres, offices, tube stations—but present them in odd lighting or out-of-hours. Use shadows, fog, or slight distortion to make the space feel not quite right. The goal is to take something ordinary and make it feel off. You can practice with layering different images to make things seem distorted, causing people to pause and pay attention. Play around with different ideas and apply your finished design to posters, flyers, and other eye-catching marketing materials.

Absence of people.

What makes liminal imagery feel eerie is the lack of life where life should be thriving. Show empty rooms, deserted halls, or still streets. This emptiness lets the viewer project themselves into the space. You can create a series of images using a collage maker or turn a set of liminal spaces photos into an art project.

Use of lighting and blur.

Muted colours, harsh overhead lights, or low saturation tones help build mood. Soft focus, slight motion blur, or film grain effects can add dreamlike depth. These edits help evoke emotion and prompt the viewer to look closer, scrutinising the details. Use the tools from Adobe Express to find the look and feel you want to evoke, then experiment with it across other content types.

Turn everyday spaces into liminal art using AI and templates.

You don’t need a professional camera or studio set-up to create liminal designs. Start with a photo from your phone—an empty stairwell, a twilight shot of a car park—and transform it using tools and templates from Adobe Express. Alternatively, use the AI Image Generator to turn your text ideas into unique visuals for social media, mood boards, or branding.

Use templates to speed up design.

Browse templates by content type and search for terms like “retro,” “surreal,” or “dreamlike.” Once you’ve found a good starting point, you can easily customise colours, textures, and effects to create something unique.

Add grain, blur, or vintage effects.

Create nostalgic or eerie edits using image effects like VHS grain, monochrome tints, or slight blur. This could be ideal for creating a layered image to print on a t-shirt or for creating an iconic look and feel for a fashion brand.

Use text sparingly.

Liminal design is about emotion and atmosphere. If you add text, keep it minimal. One line. A phrase. A question. Think poetry, not promotion. Let the space do the talking. If you want to add a written message to your visuals, resist the urge and add your messaging to your social media captions instead.

Explore generative AI to go surreal.

Use the Adobe Express AI template generator to push your visuals further. Create surreal hallways, warped offices, or dreamlike cityscapes ready for use on posters, cards, flyers, and social posts.