The symbolic approach to art (https://lib.hol.ink/index.php?topic=4.0) combines symbol drawing (https://lib.hol.ink/index.php?topic=36.0) and flat or parallax staging (https://lib.hol.ink/index.php?topic=5.0). It is the "purest" and simplest form of visual communication. As it comes naturally to most artists, it allows them to focus on design and concept without being distracted by complex drawing theories. This is helpful for both the beginner and the advanced artist. We all have times where a simpler form of staging or communication would be the more efficient way to handle something.
Developing places and characters in symbol form first is much easier than starting from a complex pose or camera angle, for example. While thumbnails and storyboards are easier to "read" at small sizes and quicker to draw if composed of symbols.
It also allows beginners to focus on building interesting compositions and finishing pieces without too much technical training early on. And more complex ideas can be built off it to lead beginners into other approaches more naturally.
When further technical training isn't desired, it also provides a branching-off point for those who'd prefer to pursue genres that prioritize composition (such as folk art and abstract art), or one of the many traditional artforms that were developed around symbol drawing over millennia.
But despite its benefits, artists who specialize in other approaches tend to look down on and demonize the symbolic approach. It's seen as folksy and juvenile, something a "real artist" grows out of. Art teachers try to beat it out of their students as quickly as possible and dock points for any sign of it. This results in skilled artists forgetting how to use the symbolic approach from lack of use, if not a traumatic mental block that prevents them from trying in the first place, forcing them to use convoluted and time-consuming techniques for even very simple tasks.
That's not to say the symbolic approach is always the right solution, however. It does have significant limits. The brain only naturally stores what is needed to identify objects, not what's needed to stage them, which is why this approach is normally limited to flat and parallel staging. We can imagine a waterbottle standing up but not one tilted slightly forward in 3D space as a symbol.
So it's a bit like communicating by texting emojis :o to a friend.
The good news is that, if you study and get good at another approach, you can gradually collect more complex symbols that bleed back into this approach. So an advanced artist familiar with observational art or constructive art might also use more advanced symbols compared to someone who has only studied symbolic art itself.
And with parallax staging, you can still achieve fairly complex scenes by applying the simpler principles of perspective that don't rely on things like vanishing points or 3D geometry.