A whole new mind in human-computer interaction

In the provocative bestselling book 'A whole new mind', author Daniel Pink (2006) uses the two hemispheres of the human brain as a metaphor for a shift that he believes is occurring in Western society. Pink argues that society is moving from an Information Age, characterised predominantly by logical, linear, L-Directed (left-brain) Thinking, to a Conceptual Age that will prize inventive, empathic, R-Directed (right-brain) Thinking. According to Pink, professional success and personal fulfilment in this new Conceptual Age will increasingly depend on six essential aptitudes: design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning. This paper lends qualified support to the spirit of Pink’s argument by considering how the cross-disciplinary field of human-computer interaction is currently being reshaped by these six aptitudes.