Heart and Hands: showing student volunteers what they're part of

Heart and Hands is the volunteer arm of UNSW’s Belonging and Onboarding program: students giving their time to help other students land well. Volunteering runs on feeling part of something, and a handbook has never made anyone feel part of anything.

The team needed two films: a welcome that shows new volunteers what they're joining, and a thank-you that makes the ones already serving feel seen.

We built both films around real volunteers rather than program descriptions, following student volunteer stories on campus and structuring the edit around the moments that show why they do it.

The welcome film was formatted for the program’s landing page, and the thank-you film was delivered with captions as standard so it reaches everyone it's thanking.

Both films are now in use across the program’s onboarding and recognition moments: one welcoming new volunteers in, one thanking the people already serving.