Interiors & ExperiencePhotographGSO University: a shared setting for gathering, learning and exchange.Photography: Jamel Williams

Brand platform and experience In progress

Google GSO

One direction. Across scales.

In brief

I led creative direction across GSO's recruitment strategy, continued education, first physical learning space, and tools for operators and facilitators. Working with the Rapt team, we connected the organization's internal learning needs with an external voice for prospective employees and the communities around its data centers.

Role: Design Director, Rapt Studio
Disciplines: Brand strategy, Recruitment, Learning, Space, Facilitation
Status: In progress

Culture & Strategy
Brand & Expression
Interiors & Experience

Context

One organization, connected needs

GSO needed to make data center careers more visible to potential recruits while supporting continued learning for its existing teams. The engagement connected those needs across recruitment messaging, educational programs, physical space and the tools used to run it.

Strategic framework table listing objectives, audiences, a key insight, an opportunity and key messages for Google data centers. — Culture & StrategyDiagramStrategic framework: objectives, audiences, key insight, opportunity and key messages.Diagram, Rapt Studio

Insight and vision

An internal and external voice

One organizational story could serve different audiences: helping prospective employees understand the opportunity, and giving current teams a shared foundation for learning and development.

The creative direction connects GSO's external employer voice with its internal learning culture. Home of the Internet gives recruitment a story rooted in the people and places that power data centers. The education strategy extends that direction into environments, programs and daily use.

Decisive choices

The decisions that shaped the outcome

1Connect internal and external needs

Question: What should recruitment and continued education share?
Choice: Establish one direction with language and tools suited to each audience.
Reason: Candidates need to understand the opportunity; existing teams need ways to learn and develop.
Tradeoff: A shared direction must remain useful to audiences with different needs.

Diagram with Home of the Internet at the center and branches for messaging, owned channels, events and objects, community, and space. — DiagramThe platform at a glance: one idea, Home of the Internet, carried through four aims and five kinds of expression.Diagram redrawn for this portfolio

2Give recruitment a local voice

Question: How can a global organization speak credibly to local communities?
Choice: Use the Home of the Internet platform to connect data center careers with local people and places.
Reason: Familiar stories help make an unfamiliar field of work understandable.
Tradeoff: Local adaptation requires clear guidance and coordination.

Screenshot of a Gemini chat producing a painterly image of a river gorge and small town, used as a process reference. — ProcessProcess: an impressionistic study of The Dalles, Oregon, generated with Gemini while testing how a hometown image could carry the platform.Process image, generated with Gemini

3Design for the people who run the experience

Question: How does the learning strategy carry into daily use?
Choice: Connect the learning environment with operator guides, facilitator resources and prompt cards.
Reason: The experience depends on both the setting and the people who prepare and host it.
Tradeoff: Tools need to support consistency while allowing facilitators to respond to each group.

Diagram of a sequence from checkpoint to in-between space to learning rooms, labeled proximity, agility, continuity, and security. — DiagramGSO University: the arrival sequence through security, then program-free in-between space, a kit of parts, and multimodal learning postures.Diagram redrawn for this portfolio

The story

Recruitment, learning, space and tools

Recruitment strategy and messaging made data center careers more legible through employer storytelling, careers content and recruitment materials. Home of the Internet connected global infrastructure with the communities and people behind it.

The continued education strategy linked recruitment, onboarding, professional development and advancement. It gave internal teams a foundation for learning while helping prospective candidates understand pathways into the organization.

GSO University, the organization's first physical learning space, translated the strategy into a setting for gathering and exchange. Spatial organization, seating, graphics and interactive elements support the learning journey.

Operator and facilitator guides, prompt cards and shared resources help teams prepare, host and carry the experience forward. Pop-up learning and Field of Dreams applications extend the direction into other settings.

Brand & ExpressionDiagramBrand system: gradient blocks behind headlines, in vertical and horizontal layouts.Brand system, Rapt Studio

I live where the internet lives, with a blue location marker and yellow symbol embedded in the headline. — Brand & ExpressionIdentity and graphicsLocal identity gives the global infrastructure a familiar voice.Campaign composition, Rapt Studio

Building careers for the future, with a red stepped symbol embedded in the headline. — Brand & ExpressionIdentity and graphicsCampaign typography connects career opportunities with the visual identity.Campaign composition, Rapt Studio

A folded recruitment brochure standing on a wooden table, open to a welcome spread, with a cover reading Our people power the internet. — Brand & ExpressionConceptRecruitment brochure, mockup: Our people power the internet, with the Home of the Internet welcome and key data center roles.Mockup, Rapt Studio

Brand & ExpressionIdentity and graphicsRecruitment messaging carried into a mobile touchpoint.Design and visualization: Rapt Studio

Translation across scales

The direction in practice

Culture & Strategy

Strategy: objectives, audiences, the key insight and the core idea, this is where the magic happens, in one framework.

Brand & Expression

Messaging: hyper-local language that knows each town's teams, festivals, and landmarks. Early process study for The Dalles, Oregon, generated with Gemini as an impressionistic reference.

Wide diagram of the GSO University audience journey with journey points and transitions. — DiagramAudience journey: arrival, group learning, workshops, breakouts, breaks and a closing ritual, with thresholds between each.Diagram, Rapt Studio

Interiors & Experience

Place: the audience journey for GSO University, from arrival through group learning, workshops, breakouts and breaks to a closing ritual, with a threshold between each step.

DiagramBrand system: gradient blocks behind headlines, in vertical and horizontal layouts.Brand system, Rapt Studio

Brand & Expression

Objects and language: the brand system, with gradient blocks behind headlines, carried into prompt cards, lanyards and shirts.

My contribution

Directing across organizational scales

As Design Director, I led discovery and creative direction with the Rapt team across brand, space, marketing and learning experience. I connected the workstreams through shared criteria while working with GSO and Cloud stakeholders on the needs of each audience.

Result and status

A platform and its applications

The work extended into recruiting collateral, external Life at Google data center pages, an internal resource hub of playbooks and templates, learning environments and a pop-up learning playbook for 2025 to 2026. Further work in 2026 included Brick and Mortar design reviews, a naming workshop and the IDI Field of Dreams playbook.

Google Data Centers welcome artwork for ALC 2026 framed by overlapping blue, green and yellow shapes. — Brand & ExpressionIdentity and graphicsWelcome-screen artwork for ALC 2026 extends the visual language into a learning event.Event artwork, ALC 2026, Rapt Studio

Architecture & PlaceRenderGSO University: gathering and learning, concept render.Design and visualization: Rapt Studio

Visualization of a STEAM Lab kit in a library: a pegboard wall of hand tools with red bins, a crate on a yellow hand truck and a small timber work table. — Brand & ExpressionRenderSTEAM Lab kit, concept visualization: a tool wall, a crate on a hand truck and a work table, set in a library.Concept visualization, Rapt Studio

A stack of multicolored prompt cards on a timber side table beside orange seating.

GraphicPrompt cards translate the graphic system into a tool for participation.

Gallery

More views

Colorful Our Shared Journey lettering and a world map above timber benches and orange seating. — Brand & ExpressionPhotographOur Shared Journey: brand expression becomes part of the environment.Photography: Jamel Williams

Brand & ExpressionIdentity and graphicsField of Dreams: identity for the data center training and innovation lab.Design and visualization: Rapt Studio

Architecture & PlaceRenderArrival signage carries the recruitment language into the visitor experience.Design and visualization: Rapt Studio

Architecture & PlaceRenderWhere the magic happens: the brand platform in an event setting.Design and visualization: Rapt Studio

Brand & ExpressionIdentity and graphicsOur Shared Journey: a map connecting people and places.Design and visualization: Rapt Studio

Architecture & PlacePhotographData center infrastructure: context for the operations organization.Google source imagery, as included in the portfolio deck

Architecture & PlacePhotographThe people behind the infrastructure: operations context.Google source imagery, as included in the portfolio deck

Architecture & PlacePhotographHands-on learning within the operations environment.Google source imagery, as included in the portfolio deck

Architecture & PlacePhotographPeople-powered internet: the platform on a mobile learning truck.Google source imagery, as included in the portfolio deck

Architecture & PlaceRenderThe brand language extends into an event and recruitment setting.Design and visualization: Rapt Studio

Architecture & PlaceRenderA learning kit carries the visual language into hands-on activities.Design and visualization: Rapt Studio

Brand & ExpressionIdentity and graphicsOur people power the internet: recruitment messaging and career pathways.Design and visualization: Rapt Studio

Tiered timber benches and orange lounge seating, with a person standing in the corridor beyond. — Interiors & ExperiencePhotographA wider view of the GSO University seating and circulation.Photography: Jamel Williams

Project information

At a glance

Client: Google, Global Server Operations (data centers)
Location: United States, data center communities (pilot example: The Dalles, Oregon)
Years: 2024 to present
Status: In progress. Brand platform delivered, with learning environments, communications and program applications developed across the engagement.
Role: Design Director, Rapt Studio
Scope: Recruitment strategy and employer messaging, continued education strategy, GSO's first physical learning space, and guides and tools for operators and facilitators.
Practice: Rapt Studio
Team: Rapt Studio team
Collaborators: Google GSO and Cloud stakeholders; Local site leads and community partners
Lenses: Culture & Strategy
Brand & Expression
Interiors & Experience

Credits

Originating practice: Rapt Studio
Personal involvement: Design Director. Led discovery and creative direction with the Rapt team across recruitment, continued education, learning space and operator/facilitator tools.
Team: Rapt Studio team
Collaborators: Google GSO and Cloud stakeholders
Local site leads and community partners
Photography and imagery: Photographs: Jamel Williams. Diagrams and process images: Rapt Studio. The Dalles study was generated with Gemini during the project.