Full process example

#Overview

In this document, we will walk through the full process of building a content model using a simple, practical example. We'll use the familiar context of a bookshop website, which we used for some of the examples we shared in the previous documents.

This step-by-step example shows how to approach content modeling, starting with desk research and interviews, involving cross-functional teams, and finally building a content model (Schema) in Hygraph with a basic schema for a website that sells books. Following this method ensures that your CMS is structured properly, flexible, and scalable.

#1. Desk research & interviews

The content modeling process starts with research. For our example, imagine that you work for a chain of bookshops that tasked you with building a content model for their website. Begin by conducting desk research to understand the domain—how bookshops typically structure their information, from book details to genres, authors, and reviews.

Once you have a basic understanding, conduct interviews with key stakeholders:

• Content creators who will use the CMS to enter book details and manage inventory.
• Sales team to understand how customers interact with the site and what information is crucial for conversions.
• Developers to understand how they need content structured to guarantee scalability and good performance.
• Marketing team to get insights into customer engagement and promotional content.

After your research and interviews, you'll have a list of terms that form the foundation of your content model. For the sake of this example, we created this list for you:

• Books
• Authors
• Genres
• Reviews
• Price
• ISBN
• Availability
• Promotions

#Relationships between terms

You'll need to think about how these concepts relate to each other. We've thought of some examples for you:

• Each Book is written by one or more Authors.
• Each Book belongs to one or more Genres.
• Each Book may have multiple Reviews.
• Each Book has one ISBN.
• Each Genre may have several Books and Authors.
• Each Book has one Price.

After identifying these concepts and their relationships, the next step is to decide which ones will serve as object domains and which will act as attributes. Let's move forward to the next step, where we will build the domain model.

#2. Building the Domain Model

Next, bring in your cross-functional team to build the domain model. This model will represent the entire business—everything from managing inventory to customer engagement. It's essential to include members from various departments to ensure that all parts of the business are considered.

For example, in our bookshop example, the domain model would cover:

• Inventory: Books, Authors, Genres.
• Customer Reviews: User feedback on books.
• Sales and Promotions: Book prices, discounts.
• User Engagement: Popular books, new arrivals.
• Business Management: Stock availability, order processing.
• Store Locations: Physical shop locations, contact details, operating hours.
• Employee Management: Staff details, roles, scheduling.
• Suppliers: Supplier contact information, orders, contracts.

Teamwork should result in a high-level domain model for the bookshop that contains a list of object domains and considers how they are related.

Here is a list of possible object domains and some attributes related to them:

Here is a list of possible relationships:

The goal of the domain model is to provide a full picture of how the business operates. However, when creating your schema for the website, you'll only include object domains directly related to the content that users will interact with, such as Books, Authors, Genres, and Promotions.

#3. Build the schema

Now that we have a broad domain model, we need to focus on the part of it that's relevant to our website's content. In this case, we'll create a content model for displaying books and their related information on a product page.

In Hygraph, the content model is called the schema, the content types are called models, and the attributes are the fields. We'll use Hygraph vocabulary from now on.

Here is a high level Schema carved from the Domain Model that we created:

• Book (Content Type/Model).
  • Fields: Title, ISBN, Price, Summary, Availability, Book cover, Genres (Reference), Author (Reference), Reviews (Reference), Promotion (Modular component field).
• Author (Content Type/Model).
  • Fields: Name, Biography, Photo, Books (Reference), Genres (Reference), Reviews (Reference).
• Genre (Content Type/Model).
  • Fields: Name, Description.

In Hygraph, you define your project schema by creating models (content types) and adding fields (attributes) to them. We've already defined our models based on the domain model, but only briefly listed the specific fields we want to add to them.

Let's look closely into each of these fields in Hygraph.

#Book Model

This is the primary content type on our bookshop website.

#Promotion component

This component could contain the following fields:

#Author Model

This model stores information about the book's author.

#Genre Model

This model categorizes books based on their genres.

#Next steps

By now, you've created a schema in Hygraph that reflects the models and fields that we outlined above. This structured, scalable approach can now be used to expand your bookshop website or any future projects where content modeling is key.

This schema allows editors to easily create content while developers can query it efficiently via the API. It also guarantees that users will have a smooth experience where elements are connected in a cohesive way that reflects the real world.

When working on future content modeling projects, apply the gradual bottom-up approach we showed you here. Building complex systems by focusing on individual components first ensures each part is well integrated into the whole. Involving a cross-functional team guarantees that all voices are heard and all perspectives are taken into consideration.

#Resources

Here's a list of additional resources that you can look into: