Along with Gerard Kiljan and his famous colleague Piet Zwart, he followed ideas pioneered in the Soviet Union by El Lissitzky and Rodchenko, in Poland by Henryk Berlewi and in Germany by Kurt Schwitters.

[2] During his employment at the NV Maatschappij Van Berkel Patent scale company in Rotterdam, Schuitema gained recognition for his original designs of stationery and publicity material, often using only the colors black, red and white and bold sans serif fonts.

In 1934 he made The Market Halls of Paris,[4] a film in the spirit of the city symphonies, just like his main project, De Maasbruggen, shot in Rotterdam.

During the final years of World War II, Schuitema, along with Jan Bouman, Lou Lichtveld and Eduard Verschueren, began planning for the post-war art community in the Netherlands.

Following Dolle Dinsdag (5 September 1944), he officially joined the resistance forces, assuming a leadership role in the National Film and Photo Reportage Service.