Abstract

An enduring question for art and design teaching is how creativity, inventiveness, and innovation can be developed. The purpose of this article is to add to existing knowledge in relation to this challenge by considering the role of low-focused thinking in the creative working process. Attention is drawn to the notion that low-focused thinking (affective and intuitive) can be used to promote high-focused thinking (logical and analytical) in art and design education. The creative thinking process is reliant on an interplay between high-focus thinking and low-focus thinking. It is suggested here that the kinds of thinking only possible through low-focused modes form a significant part of the experiential knowledge developed by practitioners and are part of the way that creative practices are psychologically informed. Drawing on empirical research and personal experience, this conceptual article examines this psychological capacity, a capacity rarely addressed in pedagogical literature yet significant to the practice of art and design.