Duplicate, duplicate, duplicate. Click a field. Try and think of a new name/email/etc. for that item. Rinse and repeat for 127 hours, or until you quit your job…whichever comes first.

Now this isn’t going to be efficient at all. We can use plugins like the Sketch Content Generator (awesome, don’t get me wrong) to fill in some random data for us, but the problem with random data is just that: It’s random.

The trick to using data in your mockups is that it should tell a believable and consistent story throughout. You should never change the names of your dummy users from one design to the next, but random data generators don’t give you any control over this.

Let’s imagine a scenario where JK Rowling just randomly changed Harry Potter’s name in the second book:

Ron, to Harry: “So Dobby stopped us from getting on the train and broke your arm…you know what, H̶a̶r̶r̶y̶ Leonard? If he doesn’t stop trying to save your life he’s going to kill you.”

Lol…Leonard Potter. What a different book that would’ve been 🤓

But you see the problem: It doesn’t make sense. The inconsistency makes it hard to pay attention to anything else in the sentence, and this is exactly what will happen in your designs. Stakeholders will be stuck on why the email address for John Smith is carla-schmeckelton@mail.com instead of listening to you present the genius of your designs.

I know it sounds crazy, but before I started applying a high level of rigor toward data in my designs, I’d be presenting to a CEO and he or she would literally cut me off to ask questions about inconsistent data.

So what do we do instead?

Enter JSON objects. JSON objects allow you to maintain consistent data each time you duplicate a layer, group, or symbol.