Meet The Designer
I am a brand and communications consultant who has spent the last decade working with startups in San Francisco, New York, Portland, and New Orleans, most notably Airbnb where I was among the first 50 to join the team. On the way to making Airbnb a household name, I convinced Conan O'Brien to list his stage on Airbnb, was a spokesperson for Good Morning America, and told our growth and economic impact story to news outlets around the globe. From the vantage point of building a hyper-growth company at rapid scale, and from my work on internal brand and culture, I have learned that disrupting a market takes a lot of work behind the scenes. I write about the invisible hand of Silicon Valley: the pivotal, and often unseen, work of women in the technology industry. The author is a Forbes contributor.
The opinions expressed are those of the writer. Tech offices have long been the brunt of jokes about opulence in Silicon Valley.
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But when a product is written in code and stored on the cloud, the office space can often be the first (or only) physical encounter employees, customers and other stakeholders have with a brand. No one knows this better than Kelly Robinson, a workplace designer whose portfolio includes the breezy, livable offices of Airbnb, SoundCloud, Headspace, Branch, and many more. I sat down with her to learn more about the connection between online brands and physical space and how she sets the tone for culture and connection through environmental design. Emily Joffrion: Tell me about the Airbnb project. How did you come up with the idea to use rentable listings in the office design? Kelly Robinson: Airbnb’s CEO, Brian Chesky, had an idea to make our meeting rooms residences.
I loved this vision so I scrolled through our Collections for inspiration. There were so many gorgeous places to visit — that’s when it struck me.
Why not make our offices exact replicas of Airbnb listings? This meant employees and visitors would feel like they were actually in an Airbnb when they took meetings. It would be a way to work inside the product and create a deeper connection to the brand.
Meet The Team Designer
Joffrion: How did the spaces reflect Airbnb’s business and strategy at the time? Robinson: Airbnb was exploding internationally so we wanted to see the diversity of places, experiences and style to come through in our workplace. I focused on Europe, Asia and America and found spaces that felt perfect, so I reached out to hosts to get their buy-in, commissioned artists to recreate the wall art, and found furnishings that matched almost exactly. But something was missing from the entrance space and I kept coming back Airbnb’s top listing: The Mushroom Dome. It took a lot of convincing, tracking down the blueprints and scaling them down by 30%, finding the right woodworker and a lot of fire code negotiation, but we got approvals built our very own Mushroom Dome. These spaces became powerful reminders that Airbnb was about experiencing something unique in travel. Airbnb’s Mushroom Dome Joffrion: What impact did this have on the team culture?
How did this support the growth of the brand? Robinson: I will never forget the moment the team walked into their new space. It felt like they finally received a container for the hard, amazing work they’d been doing. It gave everyone an even deeper sense of togetherness and pride to see what their work was leading up to. You see, an internet company exists in the cloud and often a team’s workplace is the first and only opportunity they have to turn their product into something physical and tangible.
Meet The Designer Cats With Wild Blood
At that time, Airbnb was brand new and there were a lot of skeptics — including some of our families. People would bring their parents, families and friends to see the space, which helped people really see Airbnb. Interview candidates were blown away. Investors too. We started hosting fireside chats with big-name speakers and upping the level of inspiration we received on a weekly basis. The office became more than an office.
It was a place for community, nourishment, celebration, fun, self-work, and of course, incredible work. Joffrion: How has this project impacted your point of view in your work as a designer? Robinson: It has always been very clear to me that our inner world (mental, emotional, spiritual) and our outer world (connection to earth, environment, office, home) are deeply connected. It is an infinite feedback loop. The inner world of the early Airbnb employees was already full of such incredible energy, optimism and ambition.
With the upgrade to their external environment, I saw the team move to a higher, more unified level that delivered real business results. It was powerful and it solidified my belief that intentional design can help every company. Headspace Gathering Space Joffrion: How did you bring that to your work with SoundCloud, Headspace, and Branch? Robinson: Bring the brand to life. This became my mantra.
I get to know the company intimately, learn about their founding stories, watch how they work and observe pain points in their existing workspace. I design a space for them that boosts organizational pride and helps them work in ways they don’t even realize are possible. High-quality food and nourishment alongside meaningful gatherings was also a huge component. Organizing healthy, colorful meals and giving people opportunities to gather does great things for people and for culture.
It creates connection and trust on the most human level, which is more and more crucial as our devices take over. Kitchen Space at Branch Joffrion: How should decision-makers think about these types of projects and investments? When is the right time to invest? Robinson: Investing in your company’s workplace is not much different than investing in your own living space. It is a reflection not just of who we are, but of who we are becoming. In the early days, I believe that working in humble spaces helps founding teams focus on their inner worlds and on building chemistry that is resilient and can thrive anywhere.
Then there’s a stage, typically after achieving a specific financial milestone, when it’s time to upgrade. But even when you work from a humble office, you can still invest in culture by creating meaningful gatherings and rituals and by offering healthy food and activities. Joffrion: What advice do you have for companies who are making tough decisions about where to invest in the workplace? Robinson: I think the most important design element is a space dedicated to gathering, particularly around food. Having a container where people can connect on a human level helps people cut through formalities in communication and speak from the heart. This fosters strong teams.
Emily Joffrion works with companies who believe in building their brand by developing women to share their own stories. She covers the pivotal, often invisible, work women do in technology.