The article by Amberley Romo explores how to use Gatsby without relying on its GraphQL data layer, focusing on working with "unstructured data" to create web pages. Typically, Gatsby's powerful GraphQL layer is used to manage data from various sources, acting as a bridge between a site's presentation layer and its data sources. However, Romo demonstrates an alternative approach by directly fetching data from external APIs and using Gatsby's createPages API to build pages, bypassing the GraphQL layer. This method is illustrated through an example that uses data from the PokéAPI to generate pages for Pokémon and their abilities. While this approach may be more straightforward for beginners or prototyping, it lacks the optimizations and conveniences offered by Gatsby's data layer, such as declarative data specifications, reduced frontend complexity, and enhanced performance from selecting only necessary data. The article highlights the trade-offs between using unstructured data and Gatsby's data layer, encouraging developers to consider their needs when choosing an approach.