Hi Reader,

Last week, the CIA launched a new website. That fact alone isn’t very interesting, but the design direction they went with for this site is so on trend that it had all the designers in my Twitter feed talking about it. Look at it! If you don’t read the copy, you’d be forgiven for assuming it’s a site for a hot new creative agency, not a government institution.

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I never thought I’d find myself doing a review of a government website in this newsletter, but here we are. Let’s critique this redesign.

Marketing site critique - CIA.gov

What is this site marketing?

First things first, this is definitely a marketing website. Unlike other government sites where the purpose is usually to disseminate information or to act as a portal for official filings, this site is marketing the agency itself: it aims to encourage people to come work for the CIA. This is obvious from their navigation alone: you see a ‘careers’ CTA button, and everything else is hidden inside a hamburger menu.

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They’re trying to diversify their workforce and recruit the next generation of agents, which is clearly why they’ve leaned into such an on-trend look and feel for the site, and used large images of a diverse group of people (who I hope are actual CIA employees and not stock models).

Embracing trends

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There’s no doubt about it, so many of the elements of the site–from the fonts to the thin grid lines and graphics–are very much having a moment in the design world. And this is what has led to much of the debate around this redesign: Is it smart for a government website be using such trend-led visuals?

When a certain design style becomes a trend, it becomes hard for any one company (or government agency) to own it and have it be recognisable as their brand. That’s why you could swap out the content on this site and use the design to advertise a homewares pop-up store, a creative agency, a coding course, heck, even a coffee shop.

Aside from not being able to own the visual language (and the fact that it seemingly goes against their brand of tradition & legacy), when you lean so heavily on a design trend it’s a sure fire path to your design feeling outdated faster and needing to be redone. Good design shouldn’t need to be updated when a trend goes out of fashion. So by going all-in on this trend for the CIA website, they’re setting themselves up for more work in future.

However... even though I know all that about trends, I cannot deny that when I first loaded the site my initial reaction was “oh hey, this actually looks cool! Not at all stuffy and stuck-in-the-past like I expect for a government agency.” I’m going to bet that you might have had a similar thought (even if it was involuntary). Yes, it will be outdated fast. No, it's not 'ownable' as a visual brand. But damn if it doesn't look cool!

I think this use of design trends is actually quite clever in this case. They’re using them to try to change perceptions on what it's like to work for the government; showing the agency as interesting and dynamic, rather than stuffy and boring.

The shorter lifespan of this design is probably worth the trade-off in forming that perception, not to mention the amount of press this redesign got. Had they shipped something standard-issue, would there be discussion on Hacker News and Ad Age about it? I don't think so.

Not your average government website

It’s commonplace for government websites to be full of outdated UI and frustratingly complex UX. When we visit one, we just kind of expect it to look like it’s from the early 2000’s at best.

Years ago when gov.uk launched with a clean, structured design system it was quite the talking point in the design community, though for very different reasons.

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The Gov.uk site showed the power of a design system for creating a government website that is modern, clean, and highly user-focussed. It was treated like a product and the system became a point of reference for many designers. I share this to highlight that there are alternatives to making a government website look modern that don’t involve leaning on trends.

I found this block on the about page particularly interesting.

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This is not design, this is art. These symbols are not communicating anything. They don’t help you to identify the next section you were looking for or give you any information. They’re simply there to hold a space, and add visual interest.

It’s a bold choice! I’m a fan of adding artistry into a design (in fact, I wrote about that practice in Issue #6), so I’m not knocking this design decision. But as with many things in this redesign, it’s surprising to see on a government website.

Is the redesign successful?

Only the CIA themselves can answer this for sure, as they've said that recruiting is the goal with the new site. But I bet there will be a lot of new, young professionals who were planning on pursuing careers in the tech industry, who might consider the CIA as an option now thanks to this redesign.

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The about page features images of people working at computers, having meetings, a photo of their campus showing plenty of green space… if you’ve ever looked at the careers page for a tech company they’ll feel very familiar! There’s no doubt that this was a deliberate choice, as with using design trends, to show the CIA as a modern & cool place to work (if you can, you know, put aside your ethics a little…).

I love when redesigns like this happen and get what seemingly feels like the whole internet talking about design.

Whether you think this new site is good design or bad, we have to agree that it is at least interesting. I have to wonder too if all this discourse will mean the lifespan of this trend is even shorter now too. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

What do you think of the redesign?

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​Twitter follow: Kelli Anderson​

Kelli is a designer and maker who is seemingly always working on something interesting. You absolutely have to click through to this tweet to see this cool paper & string contraption in action.

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I love whenever one of Kelli's colorful papercraft projects shows up on my timeline and I'd encourage you all to follow her to add a dose of creativity to your Twitter experience.

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Inside Marketing Design season 2

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In the next few months I want to start work on season 2 of my interview series Inside Marketing Design, and that means I’m looking for marketing designers to interview!

Episodes of my show aim to give people a look behind the scenes at how marketing design functions in different companies, so if you’re a designer working on the brand/marketing side of design within a tech company I’d love to hear from you! You can fill out this form here to submit your interest.

(And if you’re a product/UX designer at a tech company, why not reach out to your marketing design team and see if they’d be interested?)

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I hope you’re all staying safe and healthy. Last week was a bit of a rocky one for me, and I’m sure for many of you too. Here’s hoping this week is a better one!

All the best,

Charli