The schema decisions you make today, your editors live with for years.
Specialist Contentful content modelling — for organisations who need a content architecture that scales across channels, locales, and editorial teams without painting itself into a corner.
Most Contentful headaches are content modelling problems in disguise.
Slow CDA queries, frustrated editors, exploding API call counts, "we can't reuse this anywhere", duplicated content across spaces — these almost always trace back to a content model that was built quickly under deadline pressure and never properly revisited.
A good model makes Contentful feel effortless. A bad one makes every new feature a fight. We've spent 16 years modelling content in Drupal — arguably the most demanding modelling system ever built — and apply that same architectural rigour to Contentful.
Modelling work, end to end.
Whether you're starting from scratch, fixing a model that's no longer working, or planning for a major new content type — here's where we help.
Content Audit & Discovery
Workshops with editorial, product, and engineering to map every content type, channel, and consumer of your content — current and planned.
Schema Design
Content types, fields, validations, and reference relationships modelled for reuse, performance, and editorial sanity. Documented properly.
Reference & Composition
Decisions on linked entries vs embedded structures, Compose page models, taxonomy strategy, and component-based content patterns.
Localisation Architecture
Field-level locale strategy, fallback rules, translation workflows, and integrations with Phrase, Smartling, or Lokalise.
Editor Experience
Field instructions, editor interface customisation, custom App Framework apps, and validation rules that prevent bad content shipping.
Migration & Refactor
Scripted migrations between content types using the Content Management API, with zero-loss transformations and rollback plans.
What a thoughtful content type looks like.
An Article content type isn't just a body field. It's a careful set of decisions about what's reusable, what's localisable, and what belongs in the model versus the frontend.
- →SEO fields broken out for editorial control without exposing technical fields
- →Hero media as a reference, so assets are reusable across the site
- →Body as Rich Text with constrained marks and embedded reference types
- →Taxonomy via reference fields, not free-text — single source of truth
- →Locale fallbacks defined per-field, not blanket
// Article content type { name: "Article", displayField: "title", fields: [ { id: "title", type: "Symbol", localized: true, required: true }, { id: "slug", type: "Symbol", validations: [{unique: true}] }, { id: "hero", type: "Link", linkType: "Asset" }, { id: "body", type: "RichText", localized: true }, { id: "topics", type: "Array", items: { type: "Link", linkType: "Entry", validations: [{ linkContentType: ["Topic"] }] } }, { id: "seo", type: "Link", linkType: "Entry", validations: [{ linkContentType: ["SeoMetadata"] }] } ] }
How a modelling engagement runs.
A typical content modelling project takes between two and six weeks, depending on scope. We work in fixed phases with clear deliverables — no open-ended consultancy time.
Discovery & Audit
Two to three workshops with editorial, product, and engineering. We map current content, planned content, every channel that consumes it, and the team that maintains it. Output: a written brief everyone signs off.
Modelling & Review
We propose a content type architecture, complete with field-level decisions, validation rules, and reference relationships. Reviewed iteratively with your team in shared documentation, not just slides.
Build & Configure
Implementation in your Contentful space using migration scripts, version-controlled and reproducible across environments. App Framework apps, validations, and editor instructions configured in parallel.
Editor Onboarding & Handover
Workshops with content editors, written documentation tailored to your team, and a sign-off checklist. We're available afterwards under a support retainer or for ad-hoc questions.
The modelling mistakes we see over and over.
If any of these sound familiar in your current Contentful setup, we should talk. Each one is fixable — but the longer they sit, the more painful the fix.
The "page" content type
One Page type with 60 optional fields, all nullable, no structure. The hallmark of a model designed by developers, not editors.
Free-text taxonomies
Tags and categories as plain text fields. Now you've got "News", "news", "NEWS", and "Blog post" all meaning the same thing.
Everything localised, always
Slugs, internal IDs, and reference fields all marked as localisable. Editors confused, translation costs ballooning.
Deeply nested reference chains
Page → Section → Block → Item → Variant. Five include levels deep, hitting CDA limits, slow to query, slow to edit.
Mixed concerns in one type
Article content + SEO + analytics tags + author bio + sidebar config all on one content type. Impossible to reuse anywhere.
No migration history
Content types changed manually in the UI over years. No version control, no record of why decisions were made, no way to replicate to staging.
What you walk away with.
Every engagement produces concrete, version-controlled artefacts your team can own, extend, and audit.
Content Architecture Document
A written specification of every content type, field, validation, and relationship. The single source of truth.
Migration Scripts
Version-controlled JavaScript migrations using the Contentful CLI, runnable across all environments.
Editor Documentation
Plain-English guides for content editors. Field-by-field guidance, examples, and screenshots.
Configured Space
Your Contentful space fully configured, with environments aligned and editor interface tuned.
Workshop Recordings
All discovery and handover sessions recorded so new team members can come up to speed.
Decision Log
Why each modelling decision was made — invaluable two years later when someone asks "why did we do it this way?"
Three ways to engage.
Fixed-fee where possible, transparent rates where it's not. All prices exclude VAT.
Modelling Workshop
- 2 discovery workshops
- Content architecture proposal
- Pitfall review of existing model
- Written recommendations document
- Follow-up Q&A session
Greenfield Build
- Everything in Modelling Workshop
- Full content type implementation
- Migration scripts & version control
- App Framework configuration
- Editor onboarding & documentation
- 30 days of post-launch support
Refactor & Rescue
- Audit of existing content model
- Pitfall remediation plan
- Migration scripts for refactoring
- Zero-content-loss execution
- Editor re-training
- Optional: ongoing retainer
Common questions.
No. We frequently run modelling workshops before a CMS decision is made — the model is largely platform-independent, and a good one will travel with you. If you end up choosing Strapi, Sanity, or Drupal instead, we can support those too.
Yes — most engagements run alongside an in-house dev team or another agency. We deliver the model and migration scripts; your team owns ongoing implementation. We can also stay on under a support retainer if useful.
All migrations are version-controlled JavaScript using the Contentful CLI. Adding a new content type or refactoring an existing one is a code change, reviewed and tested like any other. No more manual schema changes that nobody remembers six months later.
Every Greenfield Build and Refactor engagement includes editor workshops and written documentation tailored to your team. We can also provide ongoing training as a separate engagement, or as part of a Professional support plan.
Yes. Standard mutual NDAs are no problem. We have existing data processing agreements that work for most enterprise clients including UK government, healthcare, and higher education.
Get the model right, once.
Book a modelling workshop and we'll spend a week with your team mapping out what your Contentful space should actually look like. Fixed fee, written deliverables, no consultancy bloat.