Can content management be ‘joyful’ again? Storyblok Labs promises fun and possibility in its innovation playground

When acclaimed New York Times columnist David Brooks spoke at a college commencement in 2019, he observed two key emotions at play during the event. 

One was happiness. The other was joy.

As he explained in an article recapping his experience, “happiness” usually involves a victory for one's self, usually around personal accomplishments. “Joy,” on the other hand, is the transcendence of self—or as he put it, “the present life gives you as you give away your gifts to others.”

Once upon a time, the web was a joyful place to explore. It felt new and undiscovered, a world where almost anything was possible. There were fewer walls and more open spaces, and building experiences felt creatively ambitious.

My, how things have changed. In today's world of content management, practitioners might struggle to say they’re happy when creating experiences—and even less happy with the CMS tools they use.

But are they experiencing joy? 

When was the last time you felt joyful about managing content? It’s not a trick question. I think most of us in the CMS industry never really stop to think about this distinction. 

As it turns out, Storyblok has been focusing on that lack of joy—and working to bring it back. That effort has been crystallized by the launch of its new Storyblok Labs, a place for marketers and developers to get early access to the platform’s latest headless content management innovations. 

The goal is simple: Help Storyblok users explore and adopt its latest innovations with greater speed, intelligence, and confidence—so they can stay ahead of market trends and learn new ways to outperform competitors. These benefits are delivered in the form of new features that aren't generally available but are free to use and easy to turn on and off.

Most importantly, Storyblok has thoughtfully infused joy into its Labs experience, so customers feel a sense of uninhibited wonder as they experiment with new ideas.

“Creating content is supposed to be fun and full of possibilities,” said Dominik Angerer, CEO of Storyblok. “But for users of legacy CMS platforms, it’s become a slow and frustrating chore filled with restrictions. We believe working with a CMS should be a joyful experience that makes it easy for brands to use content to make a bigger, faster market impact. Storyblok Labs is a natural next step in driving that vision forward.” 

A lab that’s purpose-built for exploration

I’ve commented in the past on Storyblok’s clean, intuitive, super-sharp interface, which makes using its headless CMS that much more inviting. Thanks to user feedback, its UI has a lot of differentiated value baked into it, and the evolution of Labs was no exception. This is a reflection of the company’s approach to serving the needs of both marketers and developers across its ecosystem.

"By speaking to our customers, we were able to uncover one result our customers experience when working with Storyblok: how much easier it makes their lives,” said Julius Hemingway, Product Marketing Team Manager at Storyblok. “For many, the payoff in how we remove the barriers between developers and marketers has led to much greater productivity, which has been rewarding."

On the theme of “ease of use,” Storyblok Labs establishes that in abundance. When first entering the environment, you’re greeted by a suite of tools that prioritize speed, agility, and control – all designed to help users stay ahead of what’s next and pioneer new ways of working with their teams.

Storyblok Labs provides an easy on/off capability for test driving new features. Source: Storyblok website.

Each new feature in Labs offers a guided walk-through video and an interactive demo (both are high-quality assets). You can easily toggle the features on and off in your space, with higher-level admin controls to manage your team’s access—and important layer of governance that controls the guardrails around exploration. 

Storyblok Labs offers interactive videos, demos, and other feature components. Source: Storyblok website.

Within Labs, you can also create a free demo space to test drive any of the new features. And as an early adopter, you get to help shape the product with Storyblok by providing your feedback at the bottom of each feature page. In this sense, it’s paving the roadmap and enhancing Storyblok’s feature set as it develops. 

Storyblok Labs allows you to create your own space to explore features. Source: Storyblok website.

Here’s a quick snapshot demo of Storyblok Labs:

New features in the playground

While still relatively new, Storyblok Labs is already hosting a few new features that you can start playing with. According to the company, Storyblok Labs will be regularly updated with new features designed to enhance the entire content lifecycle—covering everything from ideation to creation, publishing, and maintenance.

Here’s an overview of the features you can test drive today:

Ideation Room

Our “ideas” live in lots of different places. Drafts are often scattered across other applications, making it difficult to work together. Ideation Room is a slick workspace where you and your team can centralize everything within Storyblok and rally around the creation and optimization of content—all with the help of AI. 

Ideation Room provides a familiar interface for collaborating on content. Source: Storyblok website.

The first thing to note about Ideation Room is the layout. It feels instantly familiar, like a Word or Google Doc, providing users with a clean canvas for creating. You have a lot of direct domain over adding links, basic styles, and more to your content. You can also leave comments, putting the collaboration features front and center. You can also toggle to Storyblok’s handy Visual Editor to preview how an article will present in its published format as a blog or other content type. This is a cool solution that helps streamline the content creation process.

To get more up close and personal, here's a video tour of the tool:

AI Translations

Translating content into different languages has become an essential tool for many brands and content professionals. Translation and localization services are handled in a multitude of ways, and often with third-party services. With Storyblok’s new AI Translations, you can translate entire pages or individual text fields with just one click—making the entire process less cumbersome to manage. 

Ideation Room provides a familiar interface for collaborating on content. Source: Storyblok website.

AI-powered translation has become a trusted engine for handling multilingual sites, giving content professionals more accurate results when switching languages. Now, having a built-in feature will make the journey much easier for Storyblok users.

Concept Room (Preview)

Currently in preview, the Concept Room will enable users to map out their project structure and visually design their experiences with drag-and-drop tools. You’ll be able to link ideas directly to components in Storyblok’s Visual Editor and bring content to life faster and more efficiently. And like the other features in the Labs, you’ll be able to collaborate more fluidly on the structure of your entire project. You can sign up for launch notifications within Storyblok Labs.

The Verdict

“Joy” is fleeting, and any opportunity to capture more of it is a good thing. 

I think Storyblok’s commitment to delivering delight—through exceptional customer experiences—has served them exceedingly well. Heck, Dominik Angerer has personally told me that he’s never had a customer leave because of his product, and that speaks volumes about Storyblok’s culture and customer intimacy.

Said more simply: They understand their users. 

On its surface, Storyblok Labs is a kind of early-adopter skunkwork for rolling out new features. It’s an incubator for experimenting and optimizing its tools for prime time and developing an effective feedback loop within an exclusive channel. 

But Labs is more than this: It’s an investment in the value of partnerships, a vessel of trust for loyal and emphatic users who are on this journey together and contributing to the evolution of Storyblok’s CMS. It's also a reflection of the company's spirit, and how their people and products are delivering a missing quotient in what we do.

As far as the actual features go, I really like the intention of the new Ideation Room. I recently reviewed Pantheon’s Content Publisher for Google Docs, and I love the idea that content creators have access to greater choice when it comes to familiar authoring tools. While not an apples-to-apples feature comparison, I dig how Storyblok is supplying a similar canvas for creating and connecting the loose parts of a content ecosystem—and driving it all back to its Visual Editor. In this sense, they’re improving the overall authoring and editing experience and attracting more users to work in its platform across the content lifecycle.

Finally, the composable angle can't be overlooked. Storyblok continues to add the right kinds of features while reinforcing its value within composable architectures as the engine for powering digital experiences. Developers continue to have deep control while editors now have robust visual tools for doing their jobs more effectively. The Storyblok Labs “playground” is a great “proving ground” for nurturing these new attributes and gaining valuable insight around impact—particularly as brands build more ambitious solutions. 

We might not be happy with everything about our CMSes. However, some vendors are trying to think beyond the mundane and help content creators visualize a more joyful experience. As David Brooks observed, joy is all about the “present” life gives you as you give away your gifts to others.

Is Storyblok Labs that “gift” to content management? I'd say it's worth exploring.

Looking for guidance on Storyblok? Talk to an expert.

Upcoming Events

CMS Summit 25

May 13-14, 2025 – Frankfurt, Germany

Don't miss the first European edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community! CMS Summit 25 will bring together top-notch speakers, our renowned learning format, and engaging social events. Hear from leading practitioners like Deutsche Bahn, Dr. Oetker, and more – and join customers, agencies, and CMS vendors as we discuss current trends and what's ahead for the content and digital experience fields. Connect and network at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference focused on CMS. Space is limited for this exclusive event, so book your seats today.

CMS Connect 25

August 5-6, 2025 – Montreal, Canada

We are delighted to present the second annual summer edition of our signature global conference dedicated to the content management community! CMS Connect will be held again in beautiful Montreal, Canada, and feature a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. Join vendors, agencies, and customers from across our industry as we engage and collaborate around the future of content management – and hear from the top thought leaders at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference exclusively focused on CMS. Space is limited for this event, so book your seats today.