Content Modeling for Useful Components

Components break when the content model underneath is rigid. Drawing on platforms serving 150+ government agencies and 14 million residents across Iowa and Georgia, this session walks through what determines whether a component system enables scale or becomes a bottleneck: field structure, required versus optional, granularity, and relationships.

You'll see the process: author workshops with component flashcards, data dictionary decisions (cardinality, character limits, display variations), and simplified specs embedded directly into Figma so designers can stress-test constraints before code gets written. You'll also learn how to encourage relationships over duplication so content stays consistent at scale without heroic maintenance.

This session is for content strategists, developers, site builders, and UX designers working with component-based systems.

Leave knowing:

• the pitfalls of modeling
• where guardrails belong
• how to validate before and during building

Structure doesn't restrict flexibility. It's what makes flexibility possible.