Design System Refresh for UNIT.City. On a system designed to change
UNIT.City is the largest innovation park in Eastern Europe, located in Kyiv. It is a space where corporations, startups, educational initiatives, and service businesses operate side by side, and where events of all scales take place on an ongoing basis — from learning programs to large-scale industry events.
TWID has been working with UNIT.City for over five years. Before the pandemic, we created a design system that became the foundation for a wide range of brand expressions: the website, campaigns, video content, mascots, navigation, digital screens, merchandise, and other touchpoints. Over the years, the system has been actively used and scaled by the UNIT.City team.
Over time, it became clear that the core elements of this design system had stood the test of time. For this reason, the client’s request was not framed as a redesign, but as a refresh — the next stage in the evolution of the identity, allowing it to continue developing alongside the business.
Task and Challenge
From a technical standpoint, the task was split into two directions: updating the design system and updating the website. In practice, however, the challenge was more complex.
UNIT.City’s identity already existed across hundreds of offline and digital applications. Some materials created several years earlier were still in active use across the park and in communications. This meant that the update had to function as a continuation of an existing system: compatible with current applications, while remaining flexible enough for future development.
An important prerequisite was the fact that the original design system had been carefully implemented by the UNIT.City team from the very beginning. This is what allowed it to retain its integrity and function exactly as intended.
Concept and Core Metaphor
The key idea behind the refresh was the metaphor of open space — a space with room for people, ideas, work, learning, and collective creation.
This metaphor was embedded into the design system not declaratively, but through concrete decisions: composition, layout, typography, and the amount of “air” within layouts. Open space became a fully fledged element of UNIT.City’s visual language — just as essential as color or type.
Design System
The identity evolved from a deliberately bold and high-contrast visual language toward a more restrained, lighter, and calmer expression. The character of the brand remained intact, while the tone of communication became softer and more focused on the environment and the people within it.
Typography played a central role in this process. The previous custom typeface for UNIT.City was based on TTY Travels and complemented with graphic symbols. Over the years, it became recognizable and effectively synonymous with the brand. At the same time, it became known that the base typeface had Russian origins, making its continued use inappropriate.
A decision was made to redraw the typeface entirely, preserving familiar proportions and silhouettes while substantially updating details, numerals, and symbols. Ukrainian type designer Dmytro Rostvortsev was invited to collaborate on the new typeface — the author of several iconic Ukrainian fonts, including the typeface of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
This led to the creation of UNIT Sans, the new proprietary typeface for UNIT.City. TWID expanded it with an extended set of graphic symbols referencing technological context, recent cultural shifts, and elements of Ukrainian modernism. A small number of symbols from the previous version were intentionally retained to preserve continuity between stages of the identity’s evolution. In addition, TWID Grotesk was introduced as a secondary typeface within the system.
Another layer of the design system includes 3D visuals, animation, and generative graphics — tools that allow the system to remain dynamic and adaptable without losing cohesion.
Implementation
UNIT.City is actively implementing the refreshed design system in practice. It is already used across offline communications within the park, on digital screens, as well as in event-related and informational materials.
New solutions coexist organically with earlier expressions of the identity: materials created several years ago remain relevant within the updated visual environment.