If you’ve ever tried to align stakeholders around a complex product or digital experience, you know the confusion that arises when no one is speaking the same language. Domain modeling solves that.
I recently finished a chapter on domain modeling from a book about designing connected content, and I’ve never been more convinced of its value—not just for content strategy or IA, but for design, engineering, and the entire product team.
🧠What Is a Domain Model?
A domain model is a conceptual map of a subject area. It identifies the key objects (like Person, Event, or Session), the relationships between them (like “hosts” or “belongs to”), and—critically—the structure that holds it all together. It’s not a site map. It’s not an org chart. It’s not even about your product. It’s about the world your product lives in.
Think of it as a system of nouns and verbs:
- Person — hosts → Session
- Venue — located at → Location
- Event — has → Role
These are not wireframes or interface elements. They are the ideas that your entire system—content, design, and code—will rest on.
🧩 Why It Matters
Done well, a domain model becomes the connective tissue of your product:
- For designers, it reveals reusable patterns and flexible structures.
- For engineers, it becomes the groundwork for schema and APIs.
- For content strategists, it’s a blueprint for consistent storytelling.
- For the team, it becomes a shared mental model and ubiquitous language.
It’s not just about what you model—it’s about how. The modeling conversations are often more valuable than the artifact itself. Sitting with your team, wrestling with “Is this a Person or a Speaker?” or “Is this a Session Format or a Type?” forces deep thinking about what really matters in your domain.
🔍 What Makes a Great Domain Model?
- Flexible Object Naming: Name for longevity and generality. Use Person, not Speaker. Use Session, not PanelDiscussion.
- Reusability Over Specificity: The goal isn’t to capture every edge case. It’s to model the underlying truth of the domain, no matter how the UI changes.
- Relationships With Purpose: Draw lines between objects and name them with verbs that express how they interact. "Person hosts Session" is more helpful than “Person → Session.”
- Ubiquitous Language: Settle on clear, shared names that everyone—designers, engineers, subject matter experts—understands. If it’s not spoken, it’s not alive.
🧱 Objects, Attributes, and Instances
Keep your model at the conceptual level:
- Object: Person
- Instance: Forrest Gump
- Attribute: Name, Biography, Headshot
Attributes enrich your objects, but they don’t belong in your domain model diagram. Keep things high-level and structured. If an attribute starts feeling rich and complex, maybe it’s actually another object.
🎯 Tips for Getting Started
- Start with Sticky Notes — They’re fast, flexible, and forgiving.
- Model Together — Alignment doesn’t happen in silos.
- Label the Lines — Relationships deserve names, too.
- Chunk It — Divide and conquer your domain across team members, then regroup.
- Stay in Your Lane — Watch out for boundary objects that can drag you into other domains.
- Know When to Stop — Avoid the rabbit hole. Your model doesn’t have to be perfect—just useful.
đź’¬ Final Thought
You’re not modeling your product. You’re modeling the world your product operates in.
That distinction is everything.
The more time you spend mapping relationships and refining language, the more resilient, flexible, and user-centered your product will be. And when the inevitable redesigns and replatforms come? Your domain model will still hold.
👉 Let’s Talk:
Have you built a domain model for your product or content? What challenges—or breakthroughs—did you have in the process? Drop a comment or share your favorite modeling tip.
#ConnectedContent #UXDesign #ContentStrategy #DomainModeling #InformationArchitecture #DesignSystems
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