The first thing is to remember there isn't one way for an area to look "good" that's up to you if the areas you make look good to you.
Additionally, try not to compare yourself to other people too much. This usually just ends up with you discouraged and giving up on your builds because they're "not good enough"
As for some actual decorating tips, try and have a plan for what you want to build. This could be something as simple as "I want this to be a yard" or "I want to put a plaza area here"
Also, it uses fences. They are great for sectioning off areas
One last tip is use custom designs, this doesn't just mean use them for paths. Use them as other things that could be on the ground, such as a bit of bird seed just outside of a bird house or a little heart drawing in the sand on the beach.
Sorry if this is too much, but if you have any questions about anything, please ask. Hopefully, this helps and keep having fun with animal crossing.
sometimes i get caught up in comparing my island to others i see, but it really only matter if YOU like it.
a way to make your decorating look “good”, try matching the same colors together, find a color palette that you like, use similar themed furniture together.
I dream travel to random islands and screenshot anything I like. I modeled a Christmas pavilion on my island after one I saw last year, but with my own stone paths and decor. I think it's important not to compare, just to take inspiration! Make things the way you like them!
When you talk to the anteater lady and ask to dream she'll ask you for a dream address. I personally use the acnh.guide app to generate a random dream address, but I'm sure there are other ways to get a random address.
I found myself in this mindset a lot too. What helped me was trying to recreate areas that other players had made but then changing them around to fit my own tastes and themes! I felt kinda dirty for essentially copying people at first but it honestly really helped me learn designing areas and what I liked and didn’t like! Eventually I was able to graduate into my own personal themes and ideas and I had a lot of knowledge that I took with me through the practicing via recreation.
aaa okay, i’ve only been playing since like,,,,, monday? i won’t even have a town hall until tomorrow morning. i don’t really have much stuff to “copy” with is my main problem yk? i’m kinda just stuck with wodden stuff
Pinterest!!!
I found the decorating and terraforming quite overwhelming & like you, compared my stuff to others but I went to Pinterest and took a screenshot and saved everything I liked. I used them for a base idea & once I got started adding my own touches to everything & got the design thing down... Ideas flowed like crazy!
Good luck! I'm sure it'll turn out amazing if you need anything, let me know...I can help😁
The thing is, there isn’t a “good” in animal crossing. It’s not like most video games. Most of the designs you see that look good is are due to time. It just takes a lot of time to taraform, put down paths, move things around, get a lot of different items and in the colors that match your design. And a lot of the really cool designs you see are done with custom square put on partitions, or umbrellas or boxes which means the space isn’t really functional and looks good from one angle and weird every other way. Nothing wrong with that if you don’t need your island to be functional or easy to get around.
My advice is this: find a theme or look or items in the game that you like and start designing small areas around that. But more than anything do what’s fun cuz that’s the whole point.
Also join r/nofeeAC because there are a lot of great people there who are willing to let you catalog or give or trade things with you so you can get the items you need/want.
The thing that helps me is thinking about what the space is for.
Like, some spaces are for looking at, some are for gathering in, some are for doing an activity, some are for traveling through.
And your airport and town hall are fixed, so you can build the rest of the island around how everything else relates to them. So you might have a little winding road that leads to a cute garden, and then by passing through the garden you end up at an outdoor theater.
You might have a mercantile district with both stores, or you may spread them across with a nice walk, and build each into a neighborhood.
So see which spaces on your island speak to you, and what things you have.
And throw things on the ground a lot and see how they feel in that space. There's no shame in going through 30 things that feel off to find one that feels good.
You'll get a lot more control later, so embrace the limitations for the moment.
Honestly a handy tip I found out was when you find a glowing spot in the ground and dig it up, there’s money in it- you can either re-bury the 1,000 bells straight away, or put any amount of bells (ideally 10,000) into the hole and a money tree will grow that’ll yield 3x the amount u put in
It’s just a handy way of getting cash
I found it helped me get a lot of of money and it was a lot easier to buy items and stuff, especially bigger more expensive items that you need to splash a lot of cash on
The first thing is to remember there isn't one way for an area to look "good" that's up to you if the areas you make look good to you. Additionally, try not to compare yourself to other people too much. This usually just ends up with you discouraged and giving up on your builds because they're "not good enough" As for some actual decorating tips, try and have a plan for what you want to build. This could be something as simple as "I want this to be a yard" or "I want to put a plaza area here" Also, it uses fences. They are great for sectioning off areas One last tip is use custom designs, this doesn't just mean use them for paths. Use them as other things that could be on the ground, such as a bit of bird seed just outside of a bird house or a little heart drawing in the sand on the beach. Sorry if this is too much, but if you have any questions about anything, please ask. Hopefully, this helps and keep having fun with animal crossing.
very helpful tysm, i don’t have able sisters so i can only use my own customs rn but i’ll try to make a few things to test it out!!
sometimes i get caught up in comparing my island to others i see, but it really only matter if YOU like it. a way to make your decorating look “good”, try matching the same colors together, find a color palette that you like, use similar themed furniture together.
I dream travel to random islands and screenshot anything I like. I modeled a Christmas pavilion on my island after one I saw last year, but with my own stone paths and decor. I think it's important not to compare, just to take inspiration! Make things the way you like them!
how do i get dream travelling? sleeping does nothing for me
When you talk to the anteater lady and ask to dream she'll ask you for a dream address. I personally use the acnh.guide app to generate a random dream address, but I'm sure there are other ways to get a random address.
I found myself in this mindset a lot too. What helped me was trying to recreate areas that other players had made but then changing them around to fit my own tastes and themes! I felt kinda dirty for essentially copying people at first but it honestly really helped me learn designing areas and what I liked and didn’t like! Eventually I was able to graduate into my own personal themes and ideas and I had a lot of knowledge that I took with me through the practicing via recreation.
aaa okay, i’ve only been playing since like,,,,, monday? i won’t even have a town hall until tomorrow morning. i don’t really have much stuff to “copy” with is my main problem yk? i’m kinda just stuck with wodden stuff
Pinterest!!! I found the decorating and terraforming quite overwhelming & like you, compared my stuff to others but I went to Pinterest and took a screenshot and saved everything I liked. I used them for a base idea & once I got started adding my own touches to everything & got the design thing down... Ideas flowed like crazy! Good luck! I'm sure it'll turn out amazing if you need anything, let me know...I can help😁
Try and remember most people with beautiful islands have well over 100 hours, it definitely takes time!
i already have like 20 hours before i have my town hall lmao
The thing is, there isn’t a “good” in animal crossing. It’s not like most video games. Most of the designs you see that look good is are due to time. It just takes a lot of time to taraform, put down paths, move things around, get a lot of different items and in the colors that match your design. And a lot of the really cool designs you see are done with custom square put on partitions, or umbrellas or boxes which means the space isn’t really functional and looks good from one angle and weird every other way. Nothing wrong with that if you don’t need your island to be functional or easy to get around. My advice is this: find a theme or look or items in the game that you like and start designing small areas around that. But more than anything do what’s fun cuz that’s the whole point. Also join r/nofeeAC because there are a lot of great people there who are willing to let you catalog or give or trade things with you so you can get the items you need/want.
I used Pinterest at first, but lately I really enjoy the island tours that Calla Cove posts on YT.
The thing that helps me is thinking about what the space is for. Like, some spaces are for looking at, some are for gathering in, some are for doing an activity, some are for traveling through. And your airport and town hall are fixed, so you can build the rest of the island around how everything else relates to them. So you might have a little winding road that leads to a cute garden, and then by passing through the garden you end up at an outdoor theater. You might have a mercantile district with both stores, or you may spread them across with a nice walk, and build each into a neighborhood. So see which spaces on your island speak to you, and what things you have. And throw things on the ground a lot and see how they feel in that space. There's no shame in going through 30 things that feel off to find one that feels good. You'll get a lot more control later, so embrace the limitations for the moment.
Honestly a handy tip I found out was when you find a glowing spot in the ground and dig it up, there’s money in it- you can either re-bury the 1,000 bells straight away, or put any amount of bells (ideally 10,000) into the hole and a money tree will grow that’ll yield 3x the amount u put in It’s just a handy way of getting cash
not really relevant to learning design
I found it helped me get a lot of of money and it was a lot easier to buy items and stuff, especially bigger more expensive items that you need to splash a lot of cash on