S3•E4 Ashleigh Axios
From This Is A Prototype by Doug Powell
October 30, 2025 · 57 min · Season 3 · Episode 4
About this episode
Ashleigh Axios discusses the challenges and opportunities in civic design amidst recent federal staffing cuts.
The practice of civic design is increasingly in the spotlight in the U.S. as dramatic cuts to federal agency staffing and funding resulted in the abrupt elimination of thousands of design jobs earlier this year. My guest this episode is Ashleigh Axios , one of the top leaders in the global civic design community. Ashleigh is the founder of Public Servants , a consultancy that partners with government and civic organizations across the US to design equitable, effective, and human-centered experiences. Ashleigh served as Creative Director and Digital Strategist in the Obama White House, and has held numerous leadership roles, including as president and board chair of AIGA, the professional association for design in the US. Recently Ashleigh authored an excellent essay titled Not Just Another Chess Set: What the U.S. Chief Design Officer Must Deliver , following the launch last August of America by Design, a new National Design Studio that will work out of the executive branch of the US government—and the announcement that AirBnB co-founder Joe Gebbia will lead this initiative as the US Chief Design Officer. Here is a list of resources and initiatives that we reference in our…
People in this episode
Host: Doug Powell
Guest: Ashleigh Axios
Topics covered
- civic design
- government
- equity
- human-centered design
- design leadership
Keywords
- civic design
- equitable design
- human-centered experiences
- government design
- design leadership
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Public Servants, AIGA
Books & works: Not Just Another Chess Set: What the U.S. Chief Design Officer Must Deliver
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