Unitkit
Build on impact – bringing connection, roles and collective effectiveness to life in day-to-day project work.
A study project by Laura Pereira Freudenberg and Alena Schneider
4th semester, 2025
Supervising lecturers: Sarah Antes, Romina Marsico, Max Studanski and Prof. Tsunemitsu Tanaka
Unitkit – Embodied team dynamics for project kick-offs
When new project teams get started, there’s usually only one thing that matters: delivering results. But before genuine collaboration can take root, more is needed – connection, trust and a shared narrative. This is exactly where Unitkit comes in.
What is Unitkit?
Unitkit is not a team-building workshop, nor is it a digital reminder tool – it is a physical system integrated into everyday life that promotes collective effectiveness. Designed for temporary agency teams, Unitkit makes a sense of belonging tangible – not through words, but through action.
The system responds to genuine interaction: each team member contributes via a personal object – with its own symbolism, weight and space within the room. Decisions, the allocation of roles and group actions leave their mark: the lighting changes, signals trigger responses, and new constellations emerge. Psychological role models, narrative patterns and team dynamics become physically tangible through light, sound, form and action – throughout the entire course of the project, from the kick-off to the retrospective.
Why all this?
Teams that don’t know each other have to hit the ground running. This often works on a technical level – but not on a human one. Unitkit doesn’t focus on shortcomings, but on potential: collective impact, clear roles, and taking responsibility. After all, without a sense of belonging, sustainable team dynamics cannot develop.
The approach: embodiment
Unitkit is based on the principle of embodiment: insight does not arise in the mind alone, but through the interplay of body, action and space. That is why the system is physical – featuring objects, boards, light feedback and prompts for interaction.
Cognition becomes an experience. Team processes are not simply ‘discussed’, but are lived through – literally.
What makes Unitkit special?
- Narrative meets action: teams experience their shared story through their own actions – not through facilitation cards.
- Collective impact becomes tangible: it’s not just who does what that becomes apparent, but the fact that it works together – through light, space and feedback.
- Tangible interfaces: Physical objects make roles, contributions and relationships concretely tangible.
- Process-oriented, not additive: Unitkit doesn’t run alongside the project, but accompanies it from within – embedded in meetings, handover sessions and retrospectives.
- Subtle technology, real impact: Sensors and light animations make dynamics visible without taking centre stage.
Who is it for?
Unitkit is aimed at project teams in agencies and organisations that come together on a temporary basis – and want more than just efficiency. It is aimed at all those who have realised that teamwork is not just about tasks, but about relationships.
Conclusion
Unitkit makes the invisible visible: team dynamics, roles, impact. It helps teams understand themselves – not in theory, but through experience.
Build on impact.
