Design as a Matter of State: USA Creates the Position of a Chief Design Officer
The aim of „America by Design” is to improve citizens’ interactions with government services – both digital and physical – through enhanced usability, consistent standards and improved design quality. To this end, a „National Design Studio“ (NDS)will be established within the White House to support all departments in pursuing a coherent and modern design approach. At the centre of this effort is the Chief Design Officer (CDO), tasked with bringing together top design talent and leading the initiative
Service Design will thus, for the first time, be established as a guiding principle for the shaping of public services – from administrative processes to digital interfaces and physical encounters with the state.
Joe Gebbia: From Silicon Valley to the White House
According to media reports, Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia is expected to take on this unprecedented role. Gebbia has already brought his design expertise into government. In early 2025 he joined the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an office set up by the Trump administration to streamline federal operations.
There, Gebbia worked on modernising the outdated retirement process. His task was to apply service design methods – such as process simplification, customer journeys and clear interfaces – to federal workflows in order to make them simpler, more digital and more citizen-friendly. With the creation of the National Design Studio(NDS), these activities will now be consolidated within a permanent structure.
The new team, located within the White House under the leadership of Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, is intended to advise agencies, cut design costs, avoid duplication and, above all, fundamentally overhaul the aesthetics and usability of government services. Some media have reported a budget of around $10 billion for this work – though so far this figure has not been officially confirmed.
Improving The Nation Through Better Design
The challenge is considerable: there are an estimated 26,000 federal websites, many of them outdated or not mobile-friendly. Only 6% score as “good” for mobile performance, and fewer than 20% make use of the US Web Design System (USWDS). America by Design aims to address this by promoting consistency and usability. The programme is set to run for three years, within which measurable improvements are expected.
Critics point to earlier executive actions by Trump – notably the memorandum of 20 January 2025 (Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture), which set classical and traditional design as the preferred style for federal buildings. This raises the question of whether America by Design is primarily about functional, modern and user-centred design – or whether it will serve more as a vehicle of political symbolism.
Between Ambition and Implementation
What is beyond doubt is that the initiative places design firmly on the political stage. By creating the CDO post and embedding service design as a strategic principle, design is being recognised as a matter of state policy. The aim is a tangible improvement in citizens’ everyday interactions with government. Trump himself put it succinctly: “It is time to update the Government’s design language to be both usable and beautiful.” The statement underscores the ambition – and opens up debate on how deeply design will shape government action in the future.
Sources and further links:
Executive Order vom 21. August 2025: IMPROVING OUR NATION THROUGH BETTER DESIGN
Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Improves our Nation Through Better Design
Memo vom 20. Januar 2025: Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture
National Design Studio – Offizielle Website der US-Regierung zum National Design Studio.
Amerika by Design – Offizielle Website der US-Regierung zur Initiative America by Design.
Reuters vom 22. August 2025: Trump to tap Airbnb co-founder Gebbia to improve government websites