Joe Gebbia, the new U.S. Chief Design Officer and Airbnb co-founder, is leading a big project to make government websites as easy and friendly as an Apple Store. His plan is to fix old websites, make everything work smoothly on phones, and help people find what they need quickly. He wants to bring in top designers and make sure all sites are simple, modern, and easy for everyone to use. The goal is that soon people will rather do things like renewing their passport online than waiting in long lines.
What is Joe Gebbia’s mission as the first U.S. Chief Design Officer?
Joe Gebbia is leading a three-year initiative to transform federal digital services, aiming to make government websites and services as seamless and user-friendly as an Apple Store. The focus includes mobile-first design, unified standards, accessibility, and recruiting top design talent for rapid improvements.
On August 21, 2025, the White House announced that Joe Gebbia – co-founder of Airbnb and now the first U.S. Chief Design Officer – will lead a three-year mission to turn the federal digital landscape into something closer to an Apple Store experience: visually clean, mobile-first, and effortless to navigate.
The mandate emerges from the newly signed America by Design executive order, creating the National Design Studio (NDS) inside the Executive Office of the President. Agency heads must consult Gebbia and show tangible upgrades by July 4, 2026. (White House order details)
Why the overhaul matters – by the numbers
| Indicator | Current State | Target (NDS 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Federal websites | ~26,000 total | Mobile-friendly, USWDS-aligned |
| Mobile performance | 6% rated “good” | Majority “excellent” |
| Legacy spend | ~80 % of IT budget on maintenance | Shift to modern, cloud-native stacks |
| Public trust duplicative design | High fragmentation | Standardized, reusable components |
From Airbnb couches to government portals – what Gebbia brings
- User-centric pedigree: At Airbnb he scaled a two-sided marketplace to 220+ countries, honing flows that convert in seconds.
- Boardroom reach: Still on the Airbnb board and Tesla director since 2022 (insider summary).
- Net-worth fuel: An estimated $8.8 billion stake in Airbnb gives him freedom to recruit world-class design talent without salary constraints.
Immediate playbook (what changes first)
- High-impact sites – IRS refund tracker, Medicare portal, disaster-assistance pages.
- Unified design language – consistent typography, color, and interaction patterns mirroring the refreshed U.S. Web Design System.
- Accessibility sprint – WCAG 2.2 compliance baked into every component library.
- Physical spaces – DMV waiting rooms, VA clinics, and post-office lobbies also slated for hospitality-inspired redesign.
Recruiting the next wave
Gebbia’s NDS will run a Silicon Valley-style talent pipeline, offering short sabbaticals and fellowships for top product designers, aiming to place *hundreds * of specialists inside agencies within 12 months.
With a fixed sunset date of August 21, 2028, the NDS operates like a startup inside government – fast budgets, minimal red tape, and one metric of success: “Would you rather renew your passport online than stand in line?”
What exactly is Joe Gebbia’s new role?
Joe Gebbia holds the first-ever title of U.S. Chief Design Officer, appointed under President Trump’s “America by Design” executive order issued on 21 August 2025. He reports directly to the White House Chief of Staff and leads a temporary three-year mission housed inside the new National Design Studio (NDS). Agency heads are now required to consult Gebbia on web, mobile, and physical-space redesigns, with an initial public reveal set for 4 July 2026.
How bad are federal sites today?
- 26,000 federal websites exist, yet only 6% score “good” for mobile performance.
- 45% of sites are not mobile-friendly at all.
- 80% of the federal IT budget still goes to legacy maintenance, leaving little room for modern updates.
Gebbia calls the current state “an injustice” and sees it as the biggest public-sector design challenge since the creation of the interstate highway system.
What does “Apple Store-like” mean in practice?
Gebbia’s directive is to deliver beautifully designed, great user experience, run on modern software – the same standard people expect when they walk into an Apple retail location or open an iPhone app. Key practical targets:
– Intuitive navigation so users can complete tasks in three clicks or fewer.
– Accessibility first: every page must meet WCAG 2.2 AA guidelines.
– Unified visual language: one palette, icon set, and type scale across all agencies to cut duplicative design costs and reinforce trust.
Is there historical precedent?
Previous attempts such as the US Digital Service (2014) and 18F/TTS (2014-2021) modernized pockets of government tech, but none scaled agency-wide. A 2024 Federation of American Scientists report found that only one in five innovations survived leadership changes. The NDS’s three-year sunset clause is intentionally shorter than prior programs, forcing rapid delivery and safeguarding against mission creep.
What happens next?
- July 4, 2026 – first live prototypes of top-traffic sites (IRS, Medicare, USAJOBS, etc.).
- Continuous public feedback loops: every beta page carries a “Was this helpful?” widget feeding nightly dashboards.
- Talent pipeline: NDS is recruiting 200 product, UX, and accessibility specialists from Apple, Airbnb, Google, and top design schools on six-month rotations, after which they return to industry – spreading the playbook far beyond Washington.
