Newsletter issue: #170
Read time: 1m 10s

Joe Gebbia just became America’s first Chief Design Officer.

Not for Apple.
Not for Google.
For the entire U.S. government.

The designer who convinced millions of people to sleep in strangers’ beds is now redesigning how you file your taxes.

This is either the biggest win for design… or the biggest warning.

Here’s why every designer should pay attention:

For years, we’ve been overlooked. Now design sits at the table of power.

If the slowest institution on earth sees design as leadership, what’s your company’s excuse?

But here’s where it gets messy…

America already tried this.

18F was Obama’s government design dream team. They built:

• U.S. Web Design System (used by 180+ gov sites)
• COVIDtests.gov
• Analytics.usa.gov
• Saved agencies $100k per project

Then March 1, 2025: 18F gets eliminated.

Staff called “non-essential.”

And you know what? Joe’s initiative, called America by Design uses the exact same tools 18F created.

So Trump fired the designers who built the system. Then appointed a Chief Design Officer to… rebuild the system?

You literally can’t make this up.

This is why designers are split:

Team Excited: “Design is finally infrastructure, not decoration!”
​Team Horrified: “This is design as propaganda, not progress.”
​Team Skeptical: “Bureaucracy killed it before. What’s different now?”

All three have a point.

But, this moment is bigger than Gebbia. Bigger than politics.

It’s proof that design shapes society, not just interfaces.

So the real question ISN'T “Is this announcement good?”
The real question: What will we do with this opportunity?

We no longer beg for seats at the table. The table is ours.

But remember 18F. Great design work can disappear overnight if we don’t protect it.

Whether you’re Team Excited, Team Horrified, or Team Skeptical…

This proves what we’ve always known: design matters.

Now we just have to prove we deserve the power.

P.S. What did 18F accomplish before getting “deleted”? What's my hot takes on how this changes your career path?

Read My Full Breakdown

🔥 HOT THIS WEEK

The goings ons

Happenings & shenanigans in the (design) world and beyond

Framer just released Design Pages. Think Figma inside of Framer. A free-form canvas to quickly iterate. When you're ready, one-click to turn it web page. Unlike Figma's 3 free projects, it's totally free. I hear more and more designers skipping Figma and jumping straight into Framer for web design. Go try it for yourself.

Darth Vader’s lightsaber got sold for $3,654,000 in auction. Making this the most expensive Star Wars collectable ever sold.​ I know what you're thinking, is this buyer going to use the force for good or for evil. Only time will tell.

Up for a monthly audio-only office hours? Tune in live, ask questions, without showing your face (unless that'd be more fun). I'll be your UX-therapist with rapid fire question answering. Good idea? I'll only know if you reply and let me know.

This week’s livestream is How To Use Behavioural Psychology In UX.
​We'll dive into:
1. Must-know UX psychology principles
2. How to design for behaviours + biases
3. Small tweaks to make huge product impact
​Join us live, or watch the full recording available on YouTube.

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