Joe Gebbia taps Peter Arnell to redesign U.S. government websites

Joe Gebbia, the co-founder of Airbnb, is expanding his team at the U.S. National Design Studio. The studio is a Trump initiative focused on improving the online presence of the United States of America. On Monday, Gebbia announced that American designer Peter Arnell has joined the team as the first U.S. chief brand architect. In this role, Arnell is tasked with establishing brand consistency and improving user experience across public platforms. The team’s broader mandate is a massive digital overhaul, with plans to redesign 27,000 government websites to make them more accessible and easier for citizens to navigate.

To achieve this, the studio is applying design sensibilities similar to those used to build consumer applications like Airbnb. The goal is to take complex, frustrating public processes and make them simpler, safer, and more trustworthy. As an example of this approach, the team has targeted redundant digital steps in common public workflows. In one active prototype, the team has already successfully reduced a common government workflow from 87 clicks down to 12 clicks. According to Gebbia, the plan is to eventually streamline this process even further, bringing the total down to just 10 clicks.

This shift toward user-centric design is intended to address long-standing frustrations with legacy public platforms, which often suffer from confusing navigation and data loss due to page timeouts. Gebbia described the poor user experience of these legacy government websites as “one of the darkest UX patterns that you could think of.” By replacing these difficult interfaces, the studio hopes to rebuild public trust. Arnell explained that the goal is not to rebrand the nation itself, but rather to establish a consistent, unified look-and-feel and experience. This consistency is intended to build trust during the daily interactions between citizens and the government.

The appointment of a chief brand architect for a nation’s digital infrastructure represents a novel approach to public sector design. Arnell noted that this project offers a unique perspective on branding, clarifying that the team is not attempting to rebrand the country itself. Instead, the focus remains entirely on the functional experience of the user. By creating a unified digital environment, the studio aims to ensure that citizens feel empowered to complete their necessary transactions with the government efficiently, moving past the perception that public systems are inherently difficult to use.

Why it matters

The U.S. National Design Studio is attempting to apply consumer-grade design principles to massive public infrastructure, aiming to replace complex, legacy government workflows with streamlined digital experiences.