Liminal Space ✶ Mixed methods research and strategy studio

Liminal Space is a mixed methods research and strategy studio that specializes in tackling foundational questions.

We take a holistic approach to research, combining ethnographic field work, digital ethnography and quantitative analysis. The result is evidence-based strategy that realigns organizations with the people they serve.

We do our best work when things are undefined and ambiguous. We see liminal spaces as a site for emergence, redefinition, and reimagination.

Recent Clients

“Ruthie is a highly skilled researcher who can lead research end-to-end, from recruiting to in depth interviews to synthesis and rich storytelling anchored in actionable insights. We worked together on a 6 month in-depth research project aimed at defining a culture of reliability and conducting an organizational gap analysis. Ruthie’s leadership resulted in a robust report detailing key opportunities and recommendations."
Emma Scripps, Org Development & Strategy
"Not only do we have more clarity on who our audience is today and who it could be in the future, but the Liminal Space team helped us uncover customer needs in a fresh new way that is now impacting both our brand positioning and product roadmap."
Exec Team at Lonely Planet
“If you’re an early stage founder — ESPECIALLY in a consumer space, or an emerging space, where there’s a billion and one different ways to segment the market, tons of different customer profiles to consider, you need to have a research partner. Liminal Space created a framework to help us articulate our market to ourselves, and to our investors, which played a critical role in placing our early product development bets.”
Jordan Bradley, CEO
“I worked with Liminal Space on foundational consumer insights at a fast-growing, series B online learning company. The work helped get our entire company on the same page about who exactly we were serving (and, equally as important, who we weren’t!), debunking myths and driving alignment across product, business, and marketing for the next stage of growth. The team at Liminal Space are uncommonly deep thinkers, with a unique perspective shaped both by business savvy and an exceptional understanding of human behavior and psychology.”
Laura Zax, CMO
“We collaborated with Liminal Space to help up-level Watershed's research practice with a focus on interview tactics in a workshop. The Liminal Space team interviewed several folks at Watershed to get a sense of what talking to users currently looks like, and used that to frame the entire workshop. The whole Watershed team was blown away by the quality of the workshop.”
Molly Goldberg, Design Lead
“Working with Liminal Space was an absolute joy. Communicative, professional, and they went above and beyond to help set up our team for success. They'll tell you you're going to learn a lot and they'll absolutely deliver on that. Our work is better off having spent the time with them to learn more about our customers.”
Fabian Perez, Co-Founder

“Ruthie is a highly skilled researcher who can lead research end-to-end, from recruiting to in depth interviews to synthesis and rich storytelling anchored in actionable insights. We worked together on a 6 month in-depth research project aimed at defining a culture of reliability and conducting an organizational gap analysis. Ruthie’s leadership resulted in a robust report detailing key opportunities and recommendations."
Emma Scripps, Org Development & Strategy
"Not only do we have more clarity on who our audience is today and who it could be in the future, but the Liminal Space team helped us uncover customer needs in a fresh new way that is now impacting both our brand positioning and product roadmap."
Exec Team at Lonely Planet
“If you’re an early stage founder — ESPECIALLY in a consumer space, or an emerging space, where there’s a billion and one different ways to segment the market, tons of different customer profiles to consider, you need to have a research partner. Liminal Space created a framework to help us articulate our market to ourselves, and to our investors, which played a critical role in placing our early product development bets.”
Jordan Bradley, CEO
“I worked with Liminal Space on foundational consumer insights at a fast-growing, series B online learning company. The work helped get our entire company on the same page about who exactly we were serving (and, equally as important, who we weren’t!), debunking myths and driving alignment across product, business, and marketing for the next stage of growth. The team at Liminal Space are uncommonly deep thinkers, with a unique perspective shaped both by business savvy and an exceptional understanding of human behavior and psychology.”
Laura Zax, CMO
“We collaborated with Liminal Space to help up-level Watershed's research practice with a focus on interview tactics in a workshop. The Liminal Space team interviewed several folks at Watershed to get a sense of what talking to users currently looks like, and used that to frame the entire workshop. The whole Watershed team was blown away by the quality of the workshop.”
Molly Goldberg, Design Lead
“Working with Liminal Space was an absolute joy. Communicative, professional, and they went above and beyond to help set up our team for success. They'll tell you you're going to learn a lot and they'll absolutely deliver on that. Our work is better off having spent the time with them to learn more about our customers.”
Fabian Perez, Co-Founder

“Ruthie is a highly skilled researcher who can lead research end-to-end, from recruiting to in depth interviews to synthesis and rich storytelling anchored in actionable insights. We worked together on a 6 month in-depth research project aimed at defining a culture of reliability and conducting an organizational gap analysis. Ruthie’s leadership resulted in a robust report detailing key opportunities and recommendations."
Emma Scripps, Org Development & Strategy
"Not only do we have more clarity on who our audience is today and who it could be in the future, but the Liminal Space team helped us uncover customer needs in a fresh new way that is now impacting both our brand positioning and product roadmap."
Exec Team at Lonely Planet
“If you’re an early stage founder — ESPECIALLY in a consumer space, or an emerging space, where there’s a billion and one different ways to segment the market, tons of different customer profiles to consider, you need to have a research partner. Liminal Space created a framework to help us articulate our market to ourselves, and to our investors, which played a critical role in placing our early product development bets.”
Jordan Bradley, CEO
“I worked with Liminal Space on foundational consumer insights at a fast-growing, series B online learning company. The work helped get our entire company on the same page about who exactly we were serving (and, equally as important, who we weren’t!), debunking myths and driving alignment across product, business, and marketing for the next stage of growth. The team at Liminal Space are uncommonly deep thinkers, with a unique perspective shaped both by business savvy and an exceptional understanding of human behavior and psychology.”
Laura Zax, CMO
“We collaborated with Liminal Space to help up-level Watershed's research practice with a focus on interview tactics in a workshop. The Liminal Space team interviewed several folks at Watershed to get a sense of what talking to users currently looks like, and used that to frame the entire workshop. The whole Watershed team was blown away by the quality of the workshop.”
Molly Goldberg, Design Lead
“Working with Liminal Space was an absolute joy. Communicative, professional, and they went above and beyond to help set up our team for success. They'll tell you you're going to learn a lot and they'll absolutely deliver on that. Our work is better off having spent the time with them to learn more about our customers.”
Fabian Perez, Co-Founder

Capabilities

Field work & in-depth interviews
Product & concept testing
Survey design & analysis
Digital ethnography & social listening

Segmentation & persona development
Opportunity sizing
Internationalization
Product & brand strategy

About

Liminal Space is an independent research studio led by Ruthie Vilders. Ruthie has worked in-house at technology companies like Google and Meta to help teams make evidence-based decisions based on real human needs, informing product roadmaps and strategy. Prior to Liminal Space, she led Research at a music technology company called Splice.

Liminal Space takes a rigorous, mixed methods approach to every project. This means, for each project, we’re thoughtful about bringing on the right collaborators with the right skill sets and expertise to deliver the best possible outcomes for our clients.

We’re always looking for interesting work.

If our approach sounds interesting to you, please get in touch at hello@liminalspace.studio or book an intro call.

We’re always looking for interesting work.

If our approach sounds interesting to you, please get in touch at hello@liminalspace.studio or book an intro call.