The United States has found its first chief design officer in Joe Gebbia, a billionaire co-founder of Airbnb who said on Saturday that he had ambitious plans to beautify the government’s online presence.

Do those plans include any of the heavy gold flourishes that seem to dazzle President Trump? Mr. Gebbia is imagining something a little sleeker.

“My directive is to update today’s government services to be as satisfying to use as the Apple Store,” he wrote in a post on X.

Mr. Gebbia’s appointment came after Mr. Trump signed an executive order last week to create a new federal design initiative that aims to improve experiences like renewing a passport or applying for a small business loan. The order called for a National Design Studio that would work to “update the Government’s design language to be both usable and beautiful.”

Beyond the executive order, Mr. Trump has not addressed Mr. Gebbia’s appointment.

Mr. Gebbia has charted an unusual path from art school to a post in a Republican administration. He was a graphic and industrial design student at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, where he met Brian Chesky, another Airbnb founder.

Over the years, Mr. Gebbia also founded a modular home start-up, designed a line of office furniture, attended the Met Gala with a North Korean refugee and joined the board of Tesla. He now lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, the Brazilian model and nuclear power influencer Isabelle Boemeke.