Theoretical studies and perspectives have argued that humanities positively influence art and design learning performance, yet little study has tested this argument empirically. Further than testing the impact of humanities on art and design learning performance, the present study explores how humanities influence art and design learning performance. The present study investigates the influence of humanistic knowledge (e.g., history and literature) and skills, capabilities (e.g., innovation and narrative) and spirits on art and design learning performance (e.g., professional course marks) empirically via a survey. The moderations of age and gender are also tested. The results showed that humanistic knowledge and skills and humanistic spirits increase the art and design learning performance of visual communication and industrial design students, respectively. Humanistic capabilities increase art and design learning performance for all subjects. Besides, we found the individual difference that the effects of humanistic capabilities and humanistic spirits are stronger in male visual communication students than in female visual communication students. The pedagogical strategy of humanistic education for improving art and design learning is discussed based on the results.