Pottermore has released the second part of their look at the making of the Hogwarts House Crests. It shows the process of making the Ravenclaw and Slytherin crests.

The Hufflepuff crest proved to be the most difficult creation for the team. There is a limited amount of detail about Hufflepuff house in Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone and they were aware that they needed to work a little harder to make the crest feel authentic and representative of the Hufflepuff nature. There was also the question of how to show the badger as a tenacious animal, to show Hufflepuffs as unafraid of hard work.

The art team tried out a number of different snakes for the Slytherin crest, as they wanted to ensure the one they used didn’t resemble a particular type of serpent (such as a boa or a cobra). The coil of the tail was another focal point as the artists wanted the snake to look natural, but not inactive. […] the team set to work designing a snake that looked like it had been created by a silversmith. They felt this brought the whole crest to life, especially when combined with the green ripples in the background, designed to accentuate the water element.

Some of the Pottermore Slytherin community have already noticed that theirs is the only animal looking to the left, while the other house crests have animals looking to the right. This was a decision that came about during the final stages of design, when the crests were all placed together.

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