The founder

Cristobal Catalan

Founder · PhD, University of York

I came to mental health through film. Fifteen years of documentary and creative direction — the BBC, English National Ballet, the London 2012 Olympics — taught me how a story earns someone's attention. A PhD at the University of York taught me what happens when you point that craft at anxiety, and how to test whether it works rather than assume it does.

Liminal Senses is where those two trainings meet: arts-institution craft, academic rigour, and consumer products that have actually shipped. Very few people work at that intersection. It is the whole reason the studio exists.

Doctorate

Health sciences and Interactive Technologies, University of York — Developing a design framework for open-world, story-led games for anxiety

Also

MA with Distinction: Anthropology and Global Media (SOAS)

Published

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · The Lancet Psychiatry (2019, 2021)

Shipped

Count Sheep ASMR Relax · BoxHead — iOS and Android

Available for

Consulting · Research collaboration · Speaking · Studio partnerships