Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia takes on new White House design chief role
The Trump White House has tapped Tesla board member and Airbnb cofounder Joe Gebbia to take the lead on its initiative to redesign the federal government’s digital footprint.
Gebbia announced that he was appointed as chief design officer in a Saturday post to X, formerly known as Twitter. That role was established by President Donald Trump via executive order last week along with a new National Design Studio and an initiative to improve digital and physical spaces called “America By Design.”
“My directive is to update today’s government services to be as satisfying to use as the Apple Store: beautifully designed, great user experience, run on modern software,” Gebbia said in his post. “An experience that projects a level of excellence for our nation, and makes life less complicated for everyday Americans.”
Gebbia thanked Trump for supporting the new initiative and asked people interested in joining the studio to reach out with a link to their work.
In response to a FedScoop request for comment on his appointment, the White House pointed to press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s X post in which she praised the initiative and said there was “nobody better than [Gebbia] to get it done!”
Prior to his appointment as the design chief, Gebbia also worked with DOGE to modernize the Office of Personnel Management’s mostly paper-based retirement processing, per another social media post from Gebbia in February. That post indicated he was volunteering his time.
Trump’s design executive order was premised on the idea that the U.S. government has “lagged behind in usability and aesthetics” of its digital services. Its signing was followed by the launch of at least two websites to support the effort: americabydesign.gov and ndstudio.gov.
“What’s the biggest brand in the world? If you said Trump, you’re not wrong. But what’s the foundation of that brand? One that’s more globally recognized than practically anything else,” the America by Design website landing page reads. “It’s the nation…where he was born. It’s the United States of America.”
While the initiative throws new support behind prioritizing improvement of digital services, efforts to make those offerings better have been active for years and have bipartisan support. In 2018, for example, the bipartisan 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience (IDEA) Act was signed into law, requiring government websites to be accessible to people with disabilities, have consistent design, and be fully functional on mobile devices, among other things.
