A short essay arguing that traditional design, especially that of American Indians, functions as symbolic language rather than abstract decoration, and that modern viewers have lost the ability to read it. Schindler uses Navajo sand paintings as her main example, describing the ritual use of Nayenzgani and of the Sky Man and Earth Mother paintings, and the symbolism of their figures, rainbows, lightning frames and sacred plants. It closes by urging that design should come from intense feeling.