Airbnb Founder and RISD Grad Is Chief Design Officer
President Trump has signed an executive order establishing “America by Design,” a national initiative to improve the design and usability of federal services in both digital and physical spaces. “America has long led the world in innovation, technological advancement, and design,” according to the executive order. “But with a sprawling ecosystem of digital services offered to Americans, the Government has lagged behind in usability and aesthetics. There is a high financial cost to maintaining legacy systems, to say nothing of the cost in time lost by the American public trying to navigate them. It is time to fill the digital potholes across our Nation. “The EO states it is the policy of the administration to deliver experiences “both beautiful and efficient, improving the quality of life of our Nation.”
The order creates a National Design Studio within the White House and a new chief design officer — Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia has been tabbed — to lead the effort. The studio will advise agencies on cutting duplicative design costs, standardizing design to build public trust and improving the quality of government services. Gebbia, who was named chief design officer of NDS, said in a statement to X. “I will do my best to make the U.S. the most beautiful, and usable, country in the digital world.” He is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and served as a member of Elon Musk’s DOGE.
On its new website, NDS suggests it will improve the ways Americans interact with the government, including passports, tax filing, and green card applications, with the IRS reportedly one of the priorities. The chief design officer will also recruit top designers and experts, consult with though leaders and coordinate with federal agencies to “ensure compliance with the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act.” A temporary organization within the National Design Studio will help advance the initiative for three years. There are currently 26,000 websites run by the Feds.
Critics of the Trump initiative point out the irony that the government has eliminated much of its existing design staff in recent months. In 2014, the Obama administration created units known as 18F and the US Digital Service to help government agencies design software that could connect Americans with federal services. Dozens of technology specialists, including designers, lost their jobs when the Trump administration eliminated 18F this spring. After the US Digital Service was rebranded as the Department of Government Efficiency, more than 20 staff members resigned. “Let’s break it, then we’re going to come back and fix it — it’s a little strange,” said Cesar Rivera, the national board president of AIGA. But still, Mr. Rivera said he had a glimmer of hope that the newly created studio could elevate the importance of design work in the federal government.
Other criticisms run the gamut from fear that the Administration will use design to promote its political goals or prioritize political symbolism over good design, concern that the President’s own questionable aesthetic taste may permeate the creative decisions, that the organization could function as a design censor and be Eurocentric, and allegations that it will be a source of sweetheart deals and corruption.
