The design of "Silent Hill 3"s characters passed through different stages. The game's development team initially saw Heather as "innocent", something that was reflected by original sketches of her, but they found this motif to be too "nice", so the game's supervising illustrator, character designer Shingo Yuri, sought another source of inspiration, modelling Heather after French actresses Sophie Marceau and Charlotte Gainsbourg, with Vanessa Paradis having served as a model for concept art of the protagonist. The character's leg-revealing outfit and slightly curly hair had been the subject of debate among Yuri and two young female members of the development team: while Yuri firstly envisioned her wearing jeans, these members dissented on the addition of this element because they believed that Heather should discreetly be instilled sex appeal—a property which they insisted should be possessed by her—by having her legs divulged as they considered that exposure of them would bestow femininity and prettiness on Heather; he was ultimately convinced by the females that their own proposal should be followed. Trusting these members' sense of fashion, Yuri also accepted their judgement on the character's hairstyle, which was that curly hair would be more suitable for a young girl. Heather's hair was "more natural" and "less elaborate" in earlier design stages, according to him. The character's name was taken from Heather Morris, who provided Heather's voice and motion capture. The name "Helen" was firstly planned to be used for the character, but was later discarded as it was considered to be old-fashioned.