CMS 2.0 — Decoupling Content and Design at Scale

In Progress

Summary: Redesigning the CMS architecture to separate content from presentation, reduce content type sprawl, and empower content teams to create new layouts and designs without engineering involvement.

Context

As The Aspen Group added more brands and more content requirements, the number of Contentful content types grew rapidly and became harder to maintain.

Problem

The existing model mapped one Contentful content type to one React component. Design changes required content model changes + code changes + sprint and deployment cycles, slowing marketing iteration and keeping engineering on the critical path.

My Role

Heavy contributor to CMS 2.0 exploration and implementation
Helped shape the architecture to reduce content type sprawl
Partnered with design/content teams to define a new workflow

Approach & Key Decisions

We started exploring Contentful Studio to separate content from presentation: fewer core content types, with flexible composition for layouts.

Composition with core atoms

Define a small set of reusable “atoms” / building blocks
Editors assemble layouts using atoms and bind content
New designs can be created without new content types or new components

Early Results

Reduced pressure to create new content types for every new design
Faster design iteration for marketing/content teams
Clear path to removing engineering from routine layout changes

Why This Matters

CMS 2.0 shifts engineering from being a delivery bottleneck to being a platform enabler—improving time-to-market and reducing long-term complexity.