Airbnb Co-Founder Aims to Give U.S. Gov’t an Apple Store Look

Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia has been tapped by President Donald Trump as America’s first chief design officer, with a mandate to bring Apple-level polish to outdated government websites and apps. Now that sounds like a huge undertaking.

“That means it’s beautifully designed,” Gebbia told Axios, “has great user experience, and it runs on modern software”—a far cry from the clunky online portals most people face when dealing with federal services.

Gebbia argues that government digital tools should be held to the same standard as the biggest tech brands. “It’s an injustice that our interfaces are horribly out of date,” he said. “There’s no reason why our government can’t be a standard for great design.”

The design executive, who helped turn Airbnb into a household name, says he’s taking inspiration from Apple’s stripped-down philosophy: “I’m in the camp of: The best part is no part. The exercise of designers is: You delete unnecessary parts.”

Trump created the new position through an executive order called Improving Our Nation Through Better Design.

Gebbia called his first design meeting with Trump “probably the greatest birthday present I’ve ever gotten.” He added: “As two hospitality guys, we have a mindset for that. … This is like hospitality design for our nation.”

Heads of federal agencies are expected to deliver their first redesigns by July 4, 2026—a date chosen to line up with America’s 250th birthday.

There’s nothing worse than trying to navigate a federal government website in Canada, let alone the U.S. Bringing in Apple-like designs would definitely be welcomed up here as well, but that likely will never, ever happen.